Welcome to Golden Acres Royal Academy
by Amaterasu1969
Summary: Kagome has received a scholarship to a school where the rich and royalty attend. But can a commoner like her ever fit in? And can she catch the cute dog-eared boy's attention when she's practically a Nobody? Kagome's in for the school year of her life!
1. Welcome to the Academy

**A1969: funny—I was trying to update one of my stories, but the idea for this particular story just wouldn't leave me alone, and I found myself unable to update...this story was practically **_**begging**_** to be published. Anyway, it's my first time to write a story like this, and I hope...well, it goes smoothly. Thanks! ^-^  
Oh, before I forget—I own nothing, except for the OCs, the plot, and anything not related to Inuyasha.**

_Summary:_Kagome Higurashi has just received a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the world—Golden Acres Royal Academy, a school were the rich, dignified and royalty attend. But can a simple commoner like Kagome ever fit in with a bunch of rich snobs? And can she ever catch the cute dog-eared boy's attention when she's practically a Nobody? Kagome Higurashi is in for a wild roller coaster ride filled with snobs, snobs, and more snobs—any maybe a few friends.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\  
**Chapter One

—W e l c o m e t o t h e A c a d e m y—

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

Not now, I told myself. Why did I have to start doubting now, of all times?

It was nine in the morning when my Mama drove me to the Haneda Airport of Tokyo. Funny how our moods contrasted today—she, ebullient; me, depressed and doubtful. I sighed as a red light made my mother stop. I leaned my head against the window, my eyes looking out at the humanoid demons and humans that passed by. They didn't look as though they had problems.

Lucky them.

"Kagome...are you alright?" Mama suddenly noticed my silence.

I blinked as I looked at her. "Me? Oh, I'm fine," I said, flashing a grin to dispel her doubts.

Her cheerfulness seemed to dissolve as she regarded me. "You don't look excited," she said, after a second's scrutiny.

I inwardly frowned. I wasn't going to show her that this was hard for me. After all, with my unknown father abandoning us, and my mother's meagre job as a saleslady, this was a blessing. It would help us, I told myself.

So why did it feel like a curse?

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"I do hope you take care of yourself, Kagome," Mama said, as I was about to get out of the car.

I placed a hand on the car door's handle, hesitating. In the few seconds before I got out of the car, my thoughts buzzed. I could always turn back and save myself the impending social demise that I would soon be facing. I could always turn back—at least I wouldn't be leaving behind my high school friends...my _real_ friends, for sure...

But I stopped myself. I sounded selfish.

I turned to give Mama one last kiss on the cheek, before I got out of the car and dove into the bustling crowd of the airport.

It takes one and a half hour to fly from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport. From there, it takes an additional, gruellingly interminable four hours to reach my final destination—Golden Acres Royal Academy. It was to this Academy that I'd recently acquired a scholarship, one, my Mama hopes, would be the key to giving my family a more, shall we say, comfortable life.

I knew I could've gotten a scholarship anywhere. So why did I choose to exile myself to certain social demise? Why did I choose to leave behind my family and my friends?

Actually, I think it had a little something to do with vanity. I was so proud that I was granted a prestigious scholarship to one of the world's leading schools. It seemed like a great idea, at the time. Now, I wasn't quite sure anymore.

My train of thoughts followed a similar vein all the way from Tokyo until I finally reached Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport. From there, I had to endure the gruelling four hour ride from Chitose to Golden Acres.

Golden Acres Royal Academy was situated in one of Hokkaido's mountains. Spanning the entire mountain, GARA was one of the largest schools in the country—and also the most expensive. Demons and humans alike came to GARA. Though demons and humans may not have much in common, the demons and humans who went to GARA had something similar—large pockets. It was rumoured that the four heirs of the lords of Japan went to GARA, though the truth of this was still somewhat in question.

So it was no wonder that I was having misgivings about going to GARA. My friends warned me that students in GARA ate students from schools like mine for breakfast...and with demons there, I was starting to think this was quite literal.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

It was four p.m. by the time the taxi finally reached the Academy.

I stared out the window, my eyes widening in amazement. A tall brick wall surrounded the entire base of the Academy's mountain. The entrance was guarded by an equally tall and foreboding bronze gate. The gates were locked. But it wasn't locked with padlocks or chains—it was locked by a glowing sphere of light, directly in the center of the gates.

"I don't think taxis can get in, miss," the driver said, turning to me with an apologetic grin. "You know these GARA people—they don't do public transportation."

Of course.

I smiled at the driver. "Thanks anyway." I paid him, got out of the cab, and unloaded my suitcases. As I watched the taxi drive off, I couldn't help but feel that I'd lost all communication to the outside world.

Now, I turned to the gate. I glanced around, but there didn't seem to be anyone in sight. No guards? I'd thought this place would be as fortified as a fortress.

"Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone there?"

Silence.

"Hello?" I called out again.

"Will you stop making a racket?" a cool, feminine voice interjected.

I gasped in shock, and took a step back, glancing around. No one was in sight. I suddenly remembered the demons, and my heart raced. Humans and demons may be living peacefully together now, but there were times when demons harmed humans and vice-versa. What have I gotten myself into?

"Well?" the disembodied voice said. "Aren't you going to come in?"

I looked around. "I can't," I said. "The gate's locked...and there isn't anyone around." I realized I sounded like an idiot—there was a voice, so there must've been _somebody_ around here.

"For a scholar, you're pretty dull, aren't you?" the voice said, amused.

"What?!" I said. My eyes suddenly landed on the sphere of light. Ah! "I found you!" I said, approaching the gate. "Let me in...please?"

The cool, feminine voice chuckled. Suddenly the gate glowed with white light, and then the sphere of light absorbed the gate, and darted upwards, out of my way.

Wow.

"Welcome to Golden Acres Royal Academy," the voice said, as I went through the gate, dragging my suitcase with me.

The moment I stepped through the gate, I blinked in shock. The concrete path in front of me was lined with trees. The path—well, more like a road, actually—led to a sprawling white building. But the building was far off in the distance, about a half mile away from the gate.

I'd have to walk.

"Good afternoon." I jumped, and spun around. Behind me was a pleasant, middle-aged woman with green hair, and equally green eyes. A demoness. My heart thumped.

"What brings you here?" she asked.

"I'm here on..." I couldn't finish my sentence. She tilted her head at me, as though trying to understand me. I sighed and pulled my letter from the pocket of my coat. I handed it to her.

"Oh, a scholar, eh?" she said, as she read. "Well, we have enough geniuses here, but one more won't hurt, will it?" She smiled at me again. "Do you see that white building in the distance? That's the Administration Building. Go to the Student Affairs Office, and look for Ms. Sai—she'll know _exactly_ what to do with you."

I gulped. I didn't like the way she said it.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

It took me thirty minutes of lugging my stuff to get to the Admin building. And when I got there, the place seemed deserted, except for a few staff members, who pointed me to the Student Affairs Office where Miss Sai was. She was a human, in her thirties, with a somewhat condescending air.

Miss Sai arranged my schedule, and handed me a map of the entire grounds, so I wouldn't lose my way. "You see this area on the map?" she asked, jabbing a finger at the upper left corner of the map. There were a bunch of squares there, beside a spot of blue labelled 'Lake'. "This is what we call the Quarters—you outsiders call them Dorms. I've placed you in the Third Quarter. Go there, and look for Ms. Cope."

After thanking her, I lugged my luggage out of her office. The moment I stepped out of the building with my heavy luggage, I suddenly realized that the Quarters were far off...very far off.

I already wanted to go home.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

It took me almost an hour to reach the Quarters, and by this time, my feet were blistering. I would've asked for help—I was sure there were shuttles here. But the place looked deserted.

I sighed as I stared up at the white building of the 'Third Quarter'. The building was tall—maybe around forty floors tall. I hesitated before approaching the double oak doors of the building. Climbing up the steps that led to the door, I notice an elegantly carved number three on the place where a doormat was supposed to be.

I knocked with the ornately carved knocker, and the door swung inwards. Nobody seemed to open it. I crossed the threshold and into the opulent hallway. The floor was marble, and glistening chandeliers threw a soft golden glow onto the floor. The hallway was lined with doors, tiny tables, and paintings. The walls were oak panelled and dark brown.

It looked more like a mansion than a dorm, if you asked me.

There were a lot of doors, but amidst the doors, I managed to find Ms. Cope's office, which was just as ornately furnished as the hallway. Ms. Cope, a stern looking dark-haired half-demon, was the Quarter Mother of Quarter Three. Yeesh...why couldn't they just call them House Mothers, anyway?

After asking me some questions about myself, Ms. Cope assigned me to one of the rooms on the fifth floor of the building. She handed me a key and showed me to the elevator.

"I'm sorry if we couldn't have someone else carry your bags for you," she said, not sounding sorry at all. "You do realize you've come quite a bit early—classes begin two weeks from now."

Of course. I'd purposefully come earlier, so I could get acquainted with the place without having rich snobs breathing down my neck.

"Well, here you are," Ms. Cope said, as we stopped outside an elevator.

I stared at it. The doors of the elevator were made of reflective glass—a mirror, if you will. The symbol of GARA was embossed in the glass—an abstract rose in a circle.

"The way is quite obvious," Ms. Cope said. "Fifth floor, third room."

I nodded and went into the elevator, lugging my suitcase along. The hallway in the fifth floor was just as ornately decorated as the first floor, only the ceiling was high, making the chandeliers larger. At one end of the hallway, was a picture window that threw light into the dim hallway. There didn't seem to be any students yet.

Heh, I was really early.

I promptly found my room, inserted the key, and opened it.

My eyebrows rose.

I opened the door and realized why the ceiling in the hallway was so high. The dorm was two floors. The moment I entered the door, I found myself in a hall. It was like the hallway outside, except that the walls were a cream color, rather than oak panelled. There were tiny, circular tables. There was only one chandelier in the short hallway, and there were no paintings. The floor, like outside, was marble.

I stepped out of the hallway and into the living room.

My eyes widened.

The walls were also cream in color. The wall in front of me was occupied by a picture window that opened out to a beautiful view of the lake. The wall on my right was occupied by paintings and—I couldn't believe it—a pristine flat screen with an expensive-looking sound system. In front of the flat screen was a semi-circle purple sofa, with a purple bean bag at both ends. In the middle was a round, glass coffee table.

Half of the wall on my left was occupied by cream colored stairs that led to the second floor. The half of said wall was a door-less entrance that led to a modern looking kitchen, with a circular brown table in the center.

Whoa.

This dorm—if you could call it that—was better furnished than my house.

I was starting to see that GARA's exorbitant tuition was duly justified.

I shook my head to get rid of the initial shock. I then proceeded to heave my suitcases up the stairs. Above the stairs, I found myself in an opulent hallway, at the end of which was another picture window that allowed sunlight to spill into the gloom. At the other end of the hallway was another door.

I opened it. It led to a pretty and pink and white bathroom—complete with bathtub and shower. Hm...these GARA kids sure knew how to live. After inspecting the bathroom, I went directly to the room at the end of the hall—the one near the picture window. I opened the door, and my eyes shot up in surprise.

The room was pure white. The wall in front of me was occupied by a pair of sliding doors that opened to a porch with a picturesque view of the lake. There was a desk in the room, a bookshelf, and a closet. There were also three beanbag chairs in a circle, at the foot of a queen-sized bed. The bed and the chairs rested on a fluffy light yellow carpet.

I liked this room.

Hm...first come, first serve, right?

Feeling somewhat cheerful, I dragged my suitcases into the room and shut the door behind me.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

I spent the first day of my stay going around the grounds. The vast grounds were wide, and it was an explorer's haven. Behind the Administration Building were the College Buildings—the College of Fine Arts (dancing, drawing, directing, etcetera), the College of Business, the College of Medical Arts, the College of Arts and Sciences, etcetera. East of the Colleges, was the one, majestic High School Building, where I would be spending my senior year. Behind the Colleges were the wide grounds that were home to the Stadium (where programs took place), the Field (sports stuff), and the Forest which was...well, a forest.

It took me two days to explore those. On the third day, after a hearty breakfast (the kitchen was filled with food), I decided to explore the mountain itself. Ms. Cope had already told me that, as a new student, I shouldn't go trekking up the mountain alone, as new students were liable to get lost. She also added, somewhat snidely, that my being human would somehow hamper me.

I'd disregarded her warning and set off for the mountain. I found an old temple at the top of the mountain, and spent a good deal of time there. The wind was cool and fresh. It didn't look as though the students came here often, though.

On the fourth day, I'd taken to going to the Supply Building (West of the Colleges) to order a set of uniform for the upcoming school year. Madame Shiro, the seamstress, was sort of like Ms. Cope—half-demon, and somewhat disdainful as she showed me a sketch of what the uniform was like.

It was a sailor uniform, like all high school uniforms of Japan. The top was pink, with a collar, long sleeves and a gray neck tie. There were pleats around the breast area. The skirt was just like any skirt, except it was gray and the hem was lined with yellow...or was it gold? The shoes were brown, with knee-length black socks. The guys had a different one, as Ms. Cope showed me. Theirs was just like any other male uniform, except that it was all black, with silver buttons.

"You can get your uniform the day after tomorrow," Madame Shiro said, as I left.

"Thanks," I muttered.

I didn't do much on the fifth day, except review the lessons for the upcoming semester. As a scholar, the expensive books were given to me for free, and I took delight in poring through them from morning to night. It was around six in the evening when I finally got bored with reading and decided to go online.

I plugged in my laptop, connected to the net and discovered that my mom had sent me an email.

**Kagome,**

**Your Grandfather and Souta decided to go out for a walk right now, so I have free time to write you this. How are you? How're things over there? Are the students treating you fine? I do hope you're doing alright, dear. I know it can get a bit awkward over there, what with all the high class students and all! But don't let them get on your nerves! Remember—we got your back!**

**Mom**

I smiled quietly, and typed in a reply.

**Mama,**

**Everything's fine. I'm still the only student on campus, seeing as how early I came here. But I sort of like it that way, actually. I'm so glad you emailed, Mama! Term starts six days from now, and I'm nervous. I know that, sooner or later, the students will be coming. And yeah—I'm nervous. But I guess I can tough it through, right? You won't believe the accommodations they have here!  
Give Gramps and Souta a kiss from me!**

**Kagome**

I smiled as I sent the email. I frowned then shut off the laptop, stood up and stretched. The view through the picture window was dark. I quietly slid the window open, and stepped out onto the porch. The wind was cool, and the full moon above was reflected in the glassy stillness of the lake.

Leaning my elbows on the railing, I wondered what my old friends were up to. Would Eri be arguing with the demoness Shisu again? Would Ayumi be studying now? And Yuka? What was she up to?

I sighed as I headed into the room for a night's sleep.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

They were all staring at me. The students—demon and human—were all staring at me.

"She dresses so shabbily!" one student hissed to her friend.

"She looked like she crawled out of a rock!" another said, laughing.

They were all laughing at me now.

Laughing, laughing, laughing!

"Hey there, Miss Scholar!" they said snorting. "Eww! Look at those shoes! I'm gonna have nightmares for _weeks!_"

They were laughing!

"Miss?"

Laughing!

"Miss?"

"Stop...laughing," I mumbled.

"Miss!"

My eyes flew open. A dream? It was just a dream...

Huh?

A girl was standing beside my bed. She was looking down at me, her eyebrows raised. She had honey gold hair that—what a waste!—was kept in a bun on her head and piercing emerald eyes that—such a shame!—were framed with black rectangular glasses. I sat up, staring at her. Her skin was flawlessly smooth but—too bad!—were hidden by a pair of jeans, a jacket, and a blue scarf.

I sat up. She would have been stunningly pretty if she didn't look like—I'm sorry to say this—a librarian.

"Who—who are you?" I gasped, shocked. Adrenaline coursed through me, dispelling the sleepiness. Her aura wasn't demonic...

She raised one eyebrow at me. "No," she said. She was speaking English, the language used at GARA, but her accent was British. "That question is for me to ask, not you. Who are _you_? And why are you sleeping in _my_ bed, in _my_ room?"

I stared at her, incredulous. "_Your_ room?" I asked, standing up. I realized I was still in my pyjamas, but I didn't care. "I was here first!"

She smirked. "And when did you get here?"

"Five days ago!" I huffed.

"Well, I was here three years ago, for my freshman year," she said snidely. "And this has been my room since. Not yours, not anyone else's—but _mine_."

Oh. I scowled at her. "Who are you, anyway?" I huffed, as I grabbed my robe from the foot of my bed. I turned to her. She was sitting on the bed now, tilting her head at me. She had a bossy air about her.

"Me? My name is Annika, duchess of Westerholme," she said brusquely.

Duchess...no wonder she was so darn bossy!

"You may call me Anne," she added, after a few seconds. "And, I presume, you are the scholar Ms. Cope told me about?" She sounded disdainful. "Kagome something."

"_Higurashi_," I said, through gritted teeth as I packed my laptop away.

"Whatever," Annika said as she stood up. She made for the door, and looked back at me. "When you're done, I expect you to change the beddings you used—beddings are in the top shelf in the closet." Without further ado, she turned and slammed the door behind her.

Urgh! I can't believe her! Omigosh...she was going to be my dorm mate!

I groaned as I dumped my clothes into my briefcase. Great. Just great.

It took me two hours to pack all my clothes back, and change the beddings. By the time I was done, I was hungry. I sighed and heaved my suitcase out into the hallway.

"Don't take the two rooms next to mine," the familiar snide voice of Annika Westerholme said. I turned. She was standing at the top of the stairs, regarding me with a cool look. "They're taken by my two friends."

I didn't even bother to argue as I took the last room near the bathroom. If her two friends were anything like her, then I'd probably be the most miserable person on the face of the earth.

I opened the door near the bathroom. The room inside was somewhat similar to Annika's, only there was no porch, no carpet, and the bedspread was yellow in color. I sighed. It would do. I left my suitcases inside and, wrapping my robe tighter around me, went downstairs for some breakfast.

I was surprised when I entered the kitchen. There was a towering stack of pancakes next to a pile of toast on the table, as well as scrambled eggs and a jug of milk.

"That's for you," Annika said in her brisk manner. Through the kitchen entrance, I could see her sitting on the sofa, in front of the TV. "Oh, and when you're done, wash your dishes," she added bossily. "And do me a favor and stay out of the kitchen, except when you want to eat a snack or drink—_I _do the cooking. But you can do the shopping—you've depleted the cereal, did you know? I suppose you'll have to go the Supply Building and get some more."

Her thoughtfulness—if you could call it that—was annulled by her bossiness.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

The day after Annika the Bossy came, other students began arriving. The dorm across from ours was already taken, as well as the dorms on either side of ours. During that one day, I could hear the building slowly start to fill up with students—there was suddenly chatter in the hallways, laughing in the garden behind our Quarter, and activity in the lake.

Annika was often out of the dorm, no doubt mingling with other students. She was just as bossy as she was yesterday, and easily got on my nerves. Not once did she ask me to come with her. She didn't make any unnecessary talk, and she was often in her room, only coming out to do the cooking. Gradually, I was getting bored—bored enough to leave the sanctity of the dorm and head for the mountain.

On the eighth day, I decided to do just that. Taking my battered manga _Naruto _with me, I headed for the door, just as a familiar voice called out.

"Honestly—you _want_ to go out?" I turned. Annika Westerholme was standing in the living room, both arms folded across her chest. She still had her hair in a bun, and glasses on her nose.

"I think I'm _allowed_ to go out," I said, annoyed. Yeesh, she was nothing but bossy, always telling me what to do, where to put my stuff and to 'Please don't make a mess—you _are _civilized, aren't you?'

"I suppose you are," Annika said snootily as she turned to the television. "_Don't _slam the door."

I slammed it anyway.

It felt like eons since I'd last been in the hallway. There weren't many people here—just a couple of humans walking saucily down the hallway. The occupants of our Quarter were—for moral consideration—all female.

I sighed as I made for the elevator. Just as I reached it, the glass doors opened. Inside the elevator were three beautiful demons, all of whom seemed to be college students, and all of whom were laughing rather spitefully at some joke. The moment the doors slid open, they stopped and, simultaneously, turned their gazes to me.

"Well, well, well," the one in the middle said, as they stepped out—simultaneously. "If it isn't the scholar Ms. Cope was talking about." The woman had blood-red eyes, and hair tied into a short ponytail. She was fashionable, dressed in a red miniskirt, black knee-high boots, and a blouse. I knew who she was.

"Aw, don't give her that look, Kagura." The other one had pink eyes, ruby lips, and short hair just above her shoulders. She was raising an eyebrow at me as she inspected me from head to foot. I knew her, too. "On second thought, maybe you _can_ give her the look."

I felt a blush rise in my cheeks, and I vividly remembered the dream I had the other night. "Yura, Kagura," the third one admonished. "Be nice. You'll make her cry." This one had long hair past her waist, and fiery red eyes.

"Are you _actually_ trying to be nice, Abi?" Yura asked, grinning.

The trio laughed at some private joke. "Um, excuse me," I muttered, trying to get past them.

I found my way blocked by Kagura. She placed both her hands on her hips. "Do you know who I am?" she asked. Her voice—if used on a male—was certain to prove seductive.

"Uh, yeah," I said. She was Kagura, daughter of the Lord of Southern Japan, Naraku.

"And?" Abi asked, crossing her arms.

Oh. I hesitated and bowed to her. I suddenly felt something yank the collar of my shirt. "Ow!" I gasped as I was forced to stand straight. My neck! I felt like I'd been choked!

"Oh, it's you," Yura said dismissively, looking behind me.

I turned, surprised at seeing Annika Westerholme standing behind me, looking annoyed instead of bossy. "_What_," she said, raising her eyebrows imperiously at me. "Are you doing?"

"Oh, don't worry," Kagura said. Annika looked at her. "She was only being courteous, weren't you...?"

"Kagome," I muttered, mortified.

Annika rolled her eyes. "Everyone's equal in GARA, Kagura, and you know that."

"How can everyone be equal, when you've got four eyes, Annika?" Kagura sneered. Abi and Yura laughed. Annika flushed slightly, but she was still giving them that bossy look of hers. "Let's go," Kagura said, and they sauntered off.

They turned a corner, and Annika turned to me. "I wouldn't feed her ego, if I were you," she said. Her voice had lost its bossy tone.

I nodded. Annika turned and walked back towards the dorm. "Hey, wait!" I called out as I caught up to her.

"You know her, I presume?"

I nodded again. How could I not? "And the other two—you know them as well?" she asked.

Again, I nodded. Abi and Yura both belonged to families that owned big companies in Japan. "Well, just as I've said, don't feed their egos," Annika muttered. "Even if they laugh at you. Got it?" She sounded bossy again.

I suddenly saw something I didn't see before. "Yeah," I said, as we re-entered our dorm. "Thanks...Anne."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

On the eighth day, remembering what had happened yesterday, I decided to stay inside.

Suprisingly, Annika turned out to be...alright. Once you got passed the bossy exterior, that is. Instead of hanging out in her room, she had taken to the living room and, well, mingling with me. She was still just as bossy as ever ("Put the magazines back on the _table_ when you're done—_don't _leave them on the sofa!"), but she was—actually—nice beneath it all.

"So, tell me again about stuff I shouldn't be doing," I said that afternoon. We were sitting on the sofa, a bowl of ice cream between us.

She frowned. "Of course, a newcomer wouldn't know."

I let that slide.

"Hm...what about?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Anything—social hierarchies, etcetera."

"Social hierarchies aren't supposed to exist here," she said briskly. "But if you must know, it's quite simple, really—there're Nobodies, Everybodies, Somebodies, and, finally, the Elite."

I blinked. "Uh...Nobodies are...well, nobodies, right?"

She nodded, digging her spoon into her ice cream. "Everybodies are in between," she said. "Somebodies are those who're known, but aren't really that respected, you know? And then—"

"The Elite's pretty much self-explanatory," I muttered. "Kagura, Abi, and Yura are Elite, right?"

She nodded again. "As well as four others. The other sons of the four lords."

I blinked. "But, Kagura—"

"The lord of the West has two sons," she said dismissively.

"Oh." I paused for a bit, just realizing how, well, how elite the place really was. Obviously, someone like me would be a Nobody. The thought wasn't pleasant.

"What about prof—" Before I could finish my sentence, the door to the dorm suddenly opened with a bang, and a high-pitched, feminine voice called out.

"Annieeeee!" A second later, a white, black and red blur slammed into Anne, sending her bowl of ice cream flying to the floor with a clatter.

My eyes widened as I leapt off the sofa. A girl had Anne pinned to the sofa, a girl with pointed ears (she was a demon), soft red hair, and light green eyes. She was grinning down at Anne.

"Ayame!" Anne snapped, glaring up at her. "Your ebullience is _not_ endearing!"

The girl named Ayame huffed and got off the sofa. "Aw, is that any way to greet your friends?"

Anne rolled her eyes as she sat up. "And you'd better clean up that ice cream!" She was glaring at the ice cream on the floor, as though it had insulted her.

Ayame suddenly blinked, and then her eyes were locked on me. My eyes widened, and I took a tiny step back, preparing myself for social humiliation. "Hm?" Ayame said. "Who's this?"

"Her name's Kagome Higurashi," Anne said, bending to pick up the bowl of ice cream. "She's new and a scholar."

I prepared myself for spite. "Oooh!" Ayame said, leaping in front of me. She clasped her hands together delightedly. "Really?" She laughed. "You're a genius, too?"

"Uh...not really," I muttered, embarrassed.

"But you are!" she insisted. "You know, we used to think that Anne was the genius—but you got the scholarship! That's soooo hard!"

I blushed, somewhat pleased at her implication. "Meaning?" Anne snapped as she vanished into the kitchen.

Ayame rolled her eyes as she took both of my hands. "Oh, ignore Annie—she's always like that! Hm...I bet she was being bossy, huh?"

"Well..."

"Oh, ignore that, too!" Ayame said giggling. "Annie seems bossy on the outside, but she's a real sweet on the inside, and—" Before she could finish her sentence, a damp cloth hurtled through the air and landed on her head, covering her face.

"Clean up the ice cream, Ayame!" Anne's voice called out.

Ayame giggled as she grabbed the rag from her head. "See? What'd I tell ya?"

"I heard that!"

She giggled as she commenced cleaning up the ice cream. I sat back on the sofa, offering to help her. I knew she belonged to an influential family, and seeing...well, seeing rich kids cleaning like maids was somewhat...new.

"Are you two arguing already?" Another voice called out, just as the door slammed.

Huh? Ayame and I looked to the door. A girl was just removing her coat. Her suitcases were piled up in the hallway. She had dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and deep brown eyes.

"Saaaangooo!" Ayame screamed, abandoning her rag. Like with Anne, she rushed to the newcomer and threw her arms around her.

The girl named Sango gasped as Ayame's weight hit her. She was human. "Ayame!" Sango snapped, disengaging herself from Ayame's iron hug. "Lemme go! I haven't taken seven steps in yet...and already you want to kill me?"

"Aww...you're as grouchy as Annie," Ayame complained as she and Sango straightened up.

I stood up, and Sango looked at me, her eyes blinking. "Hm?" she said. "Who's this?"

"Oh!" Ayame said, giggling as she dragged Sango to where I was. "This is Kagome Higurashi—the one who got the scholarship!"

Sango smiled at me. It was a friendly smile. "Hi!" she said. "My name's Sango. I see you've already met Ayame and Annie."

I smiled at her. "I'm Kagome Higurashi."

Sango laughed. "Don't worry—we'll all get along fine—"

"Ayame! Have you, or have you not cleaned up that ice cream?"

"Though," Sango said, grinning. "You might want to get used to that."

I grinned. "I think I will," I said.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

By the tenth day, I was pretty much used to them.

Sango was always friendly. There was nothing in the way she acted to suggest that she was rich at all. On the contrary, she was down to earth, often asking me about my way of life. I was a bit embarrassed to say what my Mama's job was, but she assured me that she really didn't care—a job was a job.

Ayame was always...well, she was always happy. Anne often said that when she was young, Ayame's parents nursed her on nothing but sugar, to which Ayame would pout and glare. Ayame was easy to get along with. She was stylish, and showed me her entire wardrobe which was the largest in the entire dorm.

Annie was, well she was Annie. She was, well, she was bossy. And she dressed in the same way she did on the first day I met her. Sango and Ayame assured me that this was Annie's normal disposition. They also said—when Annie was out of earshot—that Annie was actually sweet underneath the bossy exterior. Well, it was a sweetness that I had yet to see for myself. Still, I could get along with her.

On the afternoon, more students started arriving for the classes the following day.

"Guys!" Ayame shouted. She was standing at the picture window in the hallway. She was looking through it, just as I came out of the bathroom.

"What is it?" I asked, closing the door.

"C'mere," she called. "You, too, Kagome."

Sango was automatically beside her, while Annie was coming up the stairs. "Please," she said, sounding bored as she went over to the window. "Kagome, get over here. You're about to see the rest of them."

Curious, I went over and stood between Annie and Sango. Outside the window, we could see, across from our Quarter, Quarter One. The boy's dorm. I blinked. A lot of people were gathered in front of the building, obviously waiting for something...or someone. I also noted that they were all girls. And they were giggling.

"What are all those girls doing there?" I asked, my fixed on the crowd.

"Not getting a life," Anne muttered.

At that moment, a black Mercedes drove up the front of the building. And the girls started screaming, as though a celebrity was about to come out. The driver door of the Mercedes opened, and a young human man stepped out, making the girls scream even louder. He had a roguish grin on his face, and his short, dark hair was tied into a knot on his nape.

"Ah," Anne said as the boy grinned at the girls. He waved at them, and they screamed even more.

"Who's that?" I asked. He was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place him, not from this distance.

"That's Miroku," Ayame said.

Of course! "Is that Miroku, the heir to the Northern lands?"

"Yeah," Sango nodded. "A real womanizer. And he claims to be a monk." As though to emphasize her point, Miroku suddenly put two arms around two girls' shoulders, grinning as the girls screamed even louder. He let go of the girls and made for the building. "I'd watch out for him, if I were you," Sango added.

Yeah, right. I was a Nobody, wasn't I?

Ayame was checking her watch. "Three...two...one." At that second, another car—a red, Ford Kuga—drove up front of the building, stopping just behind the Mercedes.

The girls screamed again as just as the driver's door opened, and a young demon man stepped out. He had pointed ears, and dark hair, as well as a brown, fuzzy tail sticking out the back of his jeans. He waved to the girls, and they screamed. Again, he was vaguely familiar, but too far to be determined.

"That's Kouga," Ayame said, as though reading my thoughts. "Heir to the East."

"They do this every year," Anne said, rolling her eyes. "It's annoying, actually."

We watched as Kouga made for the building, grinning at the girls as he went. "Not that much of a womanizer," I muttered.

"No," Ayame agreed. "But he can be annoyingly cocky."

I kept that in mind. "And here comes the last ones," Annie muttered.

At that moment, a silver Porsche Panamera drove up behind the Ford. The girls screamed even louder than before as the passenger door opened, and out stepped a boy with silver hair. Even from this distance, I could make out the fuzzy dog ears sticking out the back of his head, and the golden eyes that stared at the girls. He looked uncomfortable, seeing all those girls screaming. I giggled as his dog ears twitched.

"That's Inuyasha," Sango said. "The youngest of the lot."

"Also the most hot-headed," Ayame offered. I nodded. I knew him. He was somewhat popular in my old school, too. For a moment, I wondered what the girls back home would say if they I knew I was seeing their obsession in the flesh. I felt a slight pang of homesickness.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a loud scream. The girls looked as though they were possessed. They screamed so loudly, that—despite the glass—we could hear them as though they had been standing beneath our window.

The driver's door of the Porsche opened, a young man stepped out. Like Inuyasha, he had a mane of silver locks, though his looked more smooth. His eyes, unlike the bewildered eyes of his brother, were cold and impassive. He was tall—probably the tallest—and his skin was pale. He had a crescent moon on his forehead, and two stripes on each cheek. I knew him, too.

"Yup," Sango said, as though she could read my thoughts. "That one's the elder brother—Sesshoumaru."

"Block of ice," Annie muttered.

True. He was ignoring the girls as though they didn't exist. The moment he shut the door of his car, he averted his gaze.

And looked towards us.

"Gah!" We all jumped back—with the exception of Anne, who only turned on her heel to raise an eyebrow at us.

"Honestly," she muttered, as she walked away from the window. "Like I said—_don't _feed their egos."

"Well, there you have it, Kagome," Ayame said. "The Elite."

I nodded. I was going to keep that in mind—especially with school starting tomorrow.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**A1969: long first chapter.  
Miroku: a new one?  
A1969: actually, I wasn't planning on it, what with the stories I have yet to finish, and all. But this was the kind of story that wouldn't leave me alone until it was published, you know? I tried to update my Fate's Misadventures story, but this one kept getting in the way—what a bother.  
Sango: at least it's out of your hair!  
A1969: I know! Tell me what you guys think! XD**


	2. The Annoying Wolf

**A1969:** **I won't even bother to say how long it's been. Sorry for the late update, everyone! I've been so busy, since our community duty actually began already. I have so much on my plate, so I'm really sorry for this uber late update! T.T**

**On a brighter side, thanks to all those who reviewed! :D Enjoy the chapter!**

**/.\./.\./.\./.\  
**Chapter Two  
-T H E_A N N O Y I N G_W O L F-  
**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I groaned and rolled over, not really in the mood to wake up. I mean—who actually _likes_ waking up to the alarm clock's annoyingly incessant beeping? Not me.

_Beeep. Beeep. Beeep._

I ignored it and turned over. I didn't want to go to school today—I'm sure Eri's going to ask us to go out, Yuka will be bubbly, Ayumi will be excited over a test...

_Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeep. Click!_

Huh? Mom shut off the alarm...?

"_Honestly_," a distantly familiar voice said. "Kagome, if you refuse to get out of bed, you will be late—and I won't take responsibility for it."

I opened my eyes to see the familiar face of Annika Westerholme hovering above me. She raised an eyebrow. In a flash, I remembered where I was—Golden Acres Royal Academy...and today was the first day of school.

I immediately sat up. "Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, placing both hands on my face. Annika was already dressed in the familiar pink and grey uniform of the high school students of GARA. "Quick, what's the time?"

"6:30," she said matter-of-factly.

She was kidding, right? School didn't start until 8:30; and I was sure that I'd set the alarm for 7:30 last night. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at her.

"She tinkered with your alarm clock too, huh?" My door was open, and two dishevelled figures were standing there—Sango and Ayame. Both looked sleepy, their hair like haystacks. Their eyes were still droopy.

I blinked. "Be _practical_!" Anne snapped, glaring at them. "There're four of us now, and only one bathroom—naturally, we have to wake up earlier so as to not be late."

We all gave her sleepy/annoyed looks. "Look on the bright side!" Anne said as she marched towards the door. She walked out, but glanced over her shoulder at us. "_I _woke up at 5:30. Now hurry up, you lot! Breakfast will be waiting."

"Is she always like this?" I groaned, falling back on my pillows.

Sango and Ayame came into the room. I felt my bed bounce as they both flopped down on either side of me. "Oh yeah," Sango answered, yawning. "We were surprised the first time she tinkered with our alarm clocks, right, Ayame?"

"Mm," Ayame yawned. "I thought she was too forward—I mean, we weren't even close at all, and she...sheeee"—she yawned, covering her mouth—"she meddled with our clocks."

"You'll grow used to it," Sango reassured me. I turned my head towards her. She looked alert now, the sleep slowly fading from her face. "So," she went on. "Who wants use the bathroom first?"

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

Annika's meddling with our alarm clocks was easily forgiven when Ayame, Sango and I went into the kitchen. There, on the table, were plates of eggs, bacon and stacks of toast, as well as a jug of milk. The circular table had been set for four. Annie herself was already sitting at the table, her hair in a bun, and glasses on her nose. She was reading a book, the title of which was obscured by the milk jug in front of her.

"Aw, Annie—no fair," Ayame said. She sighed as she sat beside Anne. "How on earth are we supposed to hate you for meddling with our sleep patterns, when you make one helluva breakfast?" She piled a liberal amount of bacon and eggs on her plate.

Sango sat down next to Ayame and, with a bit of hesitation, I took the seat Annie's other side. It felt weird to sit with them—I felt as though I was an intruder, that I shouldn't be here. I pushed those thoughts from my mind.

"Kagome, if you won't eat anything, I'll be very offended," Anne said, not looking up from her book. "Or rather...I'd think you have bad taste."

I blinked before sheepishly helping myself to food. "Anyway," Annie went on, closing her book and placing it in front of her. "Miss Cope came by earlier this morning, and gave me these." She opened the book and took out four pieces of paper. She held them out for each of us to see. "These," Annie continued, "are our schedules for the whole year."

We all snatched the pieces of paper from her. "Do we have any classes together?" Sango said quickly, her eyes darting down the paper in her hand.

I stared at the paper between my fingers. The top middle of the paper was embossed with the familiar rose seal of the Academy. It was the kind of paper that cost someone like me their week's allowance.

_8.30 a.m.-9.30 a.m. -Calculus  
9.30 a.m.-10.30 a.m. -Physics  
10.30 a.m.-11.30 a.m. -Histories of the World  
12.30 p.m.-1.30 p.m. -Organic and Inorganic Chemistry  
1.30 p.m.-2.30. p.m. -Literature  
2.30 p.m.-3.30 p.m. -Physical Education  
_  
I reread the whole thing, blinking. "Organic and Inorganic chemistry?" I muttered to myself, raising an eyebrow at the piece of paper. I looked up at Annie. "Isn't that sort of...a college subject?"

"GARA does things differently," Annie said, shrugging. "Besides, we _are_ seniors, after all. It's only for our own benefit that we take up the subject." She suddenly leaned over and snatched the paper from my fingers. "Mmm...very good, Kagome—our schedules match."

"Lemme see!" Ayame said, snatching the paper from Anne. She compared it to her own, her eyebrows furrowing. "No fair!" she exclaimed. "Your schedules match up with Sango's! I'm the only one left out!" She pouted.

"Can I see?" I asked hesitantly. She handed her schedule to me, a pout still on her face.

I glanced at her schedule. It was exactly the same as ours, except that she had an additional subject after P.E.—trigonometry. "Trig?" I asked, puzzled.

"She failed trig last year," Sango offered, sighing. "So, they're making her take it up again."

"Yeesh!" Ayame shouted, pouting. "What's the point of triangles, hypotenuses, sines and tangents when all I wanna do is dance?" She glared at her schedule in my hand, as though it had thrown verbal insults at her.

"You dance?" I asked, perking up. I loved dancing!

Ayame nodded. "Ballet," she said. "I don't do hip-hop and punk—those are so...meh." She made a face.

"I always wanted to do ballet," I said, sighing. I fingered my toast absentmindedly. "But Mama couldn't afford it." I realized what I said and blushed with mortification.

Annie, Ayame and Sango only nodded. I couldn't see any conviction in their eyes, not even sympathy to make me feel sorry for myself. Instead, their eyes had a look that sort of said, _That's alright_. There was a short, awkward pause that was eventually broken by Ayame's cheery voice.

"So!" she said, standing up and clapping her hands together. She looked at me. "Seeing as this is Kagome's first day, why don't we drill her on what to expect?"

Sango grinned. "Good idea," she agreed, turning to me. "So, Kagome, what do you think you'll expect?"

I hesitated, biting my lower lip. "Uhm...embarrassment?" I hedged, shrugging.

Annie raised an eyebrow at me. "You'll only be embarrassed if you willingly _let_ yourself be embarrassed," she pointed out. "Though, I'll be frank with you—there are a few students who won't take a liking to outsiders."

Ayame rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I get where this is going—Kagura and her posse, huh?"

Annie shrugged. I felt my stomach tighten when I thought of the incident with Kagura at the elevator. "Everyone at GARA knows what a snob that woman is," Sango added. "I don't think she'll notice Kagome much, anyway."

Annika shook her head, and crossed her arms. "She already has," she said. She briefly shared what happened at the elevator.

"That woman is unbelievable!" Ayame huffed. "She thinks she's queen of this school, or something! Yeesh!"

"Don't worry, Kagome," Sango said, smiling at me. "We got your back."

I stared at them. They seemed so decided. We hadn't even known each other for weeks, and already I felt as though they'd accepted me, as though I really w_as_ part of their small circle. I felt myself return Sango's smile. "Thanks," I said.

"Yes, yes, enough chitchat." Annika stood up and cleared her plate. She turned towards the sink with a certain, subtle grace. "If you people haven't noticed, class starts in 45 minutes—hurry up and eat!"

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

It felt as though my knees turned to jelly.

The moment Annika, Ayame, Sango and I took a step out of the dorm, I felt as though my stomach had vanished. The hallway wasn't empty—there were a few girls walking back and forth, already in their uniforms. They seemed too absorbed in their welcome-back-to-school giggling to take any notice of us, which was a relief.

I followed Annika, Sango and Ayame down the hallway and towards the glass elevators, my feet seeming to pause with every step I took. I took a deep breath as the elevator doors slid open with a subtle hiss and we stepped in. Thankfully, the elevator was empty. I felt my heart begin to accelerate in my chest. The cheery elevator music did nothing to calm my hysteric nerves.

"You okay?" Sango asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

Annika and Ayame both looked at me. "I'm fine," I said, smiling.

Annie raised her eyebrow. "You make for a very bad liar," she said, smirking.

I blinked. Normally, I could lie...if my nerves weren't as frayed as they were now. "Just nervous," I admitted, absentmindedly tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear.

Ayame shook her head. "You've got nothing to be nervous about!" she reassured me as the elevator came to a halt.

I took a deep breath as the doors slid open and we stepped out. Students were walking along the hallway in pairs and in groups, most of them wearing the pink and gray uniform of GARA, but some were wearing blue long-sleeved blouses, black neckties and black skirts.

"The blue and blacks are college girls," Sango offered as we walked into the crowd. None of them glanced at us.

"College?" I blinked and glanced around.

"Kagura and her posse aren't around," Annie said, rolling her eyes. "Really—you shouldn't feed their oversized egos, you know."

"Sorry," I mumbled as we stepped out of the building. I blinked as the sunlight hit my eyes. When my vision had adjusted, I blinked again. The scene in front of me was like a cross between a park, a beach and a library. In the distance, I could make out splashes of pink and black milling across the banks of the lake, basking in the sun and the cool, fresh breeze. Students walked by our quarter, some chattering away, others with their faces buried in their books.

"Come on, Kagome!" Ayame's voice called.

I blinked and realized that my friends were already standing at the foot of the steps, staring at me. "Sorry!" I said as I took the steps two at a time.

"Hurry up," Annie said, her tone somewhat urgent. She adjusted her glasses, scowling. "I don't want to be here when—"

"Omigosh! They're heeeere!" A loud voice shrieked.

I glanced around, startled. Annika groaned while Ayame and Sango shook their head, sighing. Girls suddenly started screaming and running towards the first quarter as though their lives depended on it. They sped past us and we quickly retreated to the steps of our quarter to avoid the stampede.

"What's going on?" I exclaimed, glancing around for any immediate sign of danger. "Is there trouble? Should we call the guards?"

Annie only pouted and said, "_Honestly_." It took me a moment to realize that this was not directed at me, but at the crowd—which I suddenly realized was composed of girls. Girls?

"This is so annoying," Sango muttered darkly.

In a flash, I suddenly realized. "Oooh—the Elite?"

They were silent, their eyes narrowing at the crowd. I followed their gazes. From the top of the steps of our quarter, we could make out the whole throng of girls, all gathered around the first quarter. Why, it suddenly became very clear to me.

"Omigod, they're here!" several girls shrieked. The crowd's shouts grew even louder and more frenzied. A thousand chorusing banshees couldn't have been any noisier.

"Oh, look—here comes Kouga," Ayame said. Her eyes zeroed in on the double doors of the first quarter, which were slowly opening.

I glanced sideways at her. Unlike Annika and Sango, Ayame's eyes were...expectant? It certainly wasn't the same bored-dead expression that the other two girls wore. Hm...

The screaming suddenly grew louder and out of the door came Kouga, Inuyasha and Miroku. Kouga and Miroku grinned at the girls, waving at them. They screamed even louder as the boys descended the few steps to the grass. I couldn't help but giggle at Inuyasha. He looked flustered at seeing all those girls surrounding them. I let out a chuckle when a girl tried to touch his doggy ear and he quickly evaded her fingers by ducking his head.

I suddenly noticed that something was amiss. "Hey, I thought there were four of them?"

Annika shrugged. "Sesshoumaru? Who cares?"—a sudden groan of disappointment suddenly issued from the girls, and Annie blinked—"Never mind, I shouldn't have asked."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

After the little episode at the quarters, Annie, Ayame, Sango and I headed towards a green waiting shed just a little far off from the quarters. The shed had a vendo machine in them and the kind of chairs you sat on in the airport terminal. The shed was where students who didn't bring their cars waited for shuttles to take them to the buildings around campus.

To my discomfiture, there were three girls sitting on the chairs in the shed. Two of them held cups of steaming coffee—which smelled suspiciously like Starbucks—from the vendo. The moment Annie, Ayame, Sango and I entered the shed, they stopped giggling and turned their eyes towards us. Two of them were human, the other one was a demon.

I felt a lump in my throat as their eyes darted towards me and then away.

"Hey, Annie!" one of the girls greeted. She had a mane of shocking pink hair that fell to her back in a straight wave and startling emerald eyes—and pointed ears. Demon.

Annika grinned. "Hello, Pricilla," she said.

"What about me?" the human girl with chocolate hair and eyes said.

"Hey, Kim!" Ayame shrieked, bounding in front of the girl.

"Eeww," the girl called Kim said. "It's Ayame." She pretended to wrinkle her nose in disgust and then, a second later, everyone burst out laughing...everyone except me, that is.

"Oh, by the way," Sango said, still chuckling. "This is Kagome Higurashi, the scholar." She gestured towards me.

I felt my eyes widen in shock and my cheeks burn as the three strangers turned their eyes towards me. "Hi!" the last girl said. "I'm Amy Knight. That's Kim Darling and Pricilla Hawthorne."

"Hi," I said, somewhat shyly. Even their surnames sounded expensive...

Pricilla looked at me with her emerald gaze. "Wow, to think that anyone could pass that scholarship—you must be a genius," she commented.

I felt my face burn. "Not that smart," I said.

"She's being modest, I think," Sango interjected.

Pricilla laughed. "A rare trait, modesty," she said. "Everyone here flaunts what they have...except, of course, for a few." Her eyes wandered to Sango, Annika and Ayame.

Ayame playfully stuck out her tongue. "Whatever you say, Prissy."

"Here comes the shuttle," Annika said, glancing behind her. "Come on, you lot—we've only got thirty minutes before class starts!"

"We're not taking the shuttle," Amy said, sighing. "Yuki brought her car over from home, so we can use it all year round. We're just waiting for her."

Annika nodded and turned her attention to the vehicle that was approaching the shed. My eyes widened slightly when a sleek black Mercedes Viano pulled in front of the shed. _This_ was considered a _shuttle?_

"Come on, Kagome," Annie said as she led us towards the van. She slid the door open and to my horror, the van was half full with students. The students' chattering immediately died down the moment the door opened, their eyes drawn to us.

Annika climbed in, taking the front row. She looked me, expectant. The other students followed her eyes—looking at me. I blushed.

"Go on," Ayame said, nudging me gently. I hesitated then climbed into the van, beside Annie.

That was when the whispering started. "New?" a voice whispered.

"I think she's the scholar from the slums," another voice answered. I felt myself cringing in my seat.

"Ignore them," Sango said as she and Ayame climbed in and slid the door closed. "They always act like children, sometimes."

I groaned. "Oooh—a charity case?" one student said aloud.

There was a chorus of laughter. "Excuse me," Annika said. Her voice was sharp and annoyed, eyebrow raised pointedly. "Unlike the rest of you babbling baboons, _I _am trying to mentally translate Shakespeare's Othello into Japanese—do me a favor and do something a little more productive with your mouths other than making noisy gossip."

I looked at her, my eyes wide. Whoa. Beside me, Ayame and Sango shrugged and I got that this was normal Annie behaviour.

The whispers suddenly stopped, though. Annie sighed and looked at me. "Thanks," I said.

But I could still hear my heart thudding in my chest—if this is what I encountered in a shuttle, what would I expect in a classroom?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When I'd explored the entire academy, I didn't go beyond the administration building. I was always exploring the mountain, so I wasn't quite prepared when the shuttle drove past the administration building. The academic buildings—the colleges and the high schools—were all so picturesque!

The high school grounds looked like a cross between a park and a garden. Towering trees dominated the side of the building. In the front was a circular driveway, with a fountain in the middle. Rose bushes lined the driveway. The fountain in the middle was marble. In the middle of the fountain was a marble statue of a tennyo, with flowing robes and hair. She was holding up her hands and the water shot from her hands, into the air back into the fountain.

"I've always liked that fountain," Annika admitted as the shuttle suddenly came to a halt in front of the double doors.

Sango opened the door to the shuttle and hopped out, Ayame following close behind. I hesitated before I followed them out.

Students were already heading into the double doors of the high school. Most of them were in pairs, some in groups. But they all had one thing in common—they were all laughing loudly, anticipating what the new school year would bring. I inwardly sighed. I wondered what this year would bring. Would it be my stepping stone to success, as my mom often said it would be? Or would it just lead to me being ostracised?

"Kagome?" Sango's voice snapped me out of my musings.

"Huh?" I blinked. She, Annie and Ayame were already at the doors, waiting expectantly for me. "Coming!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Calculus was the first subject of the day, a subject that I'd had slight difficulty with in our old school. The moment the girls and I walked in through the doors, everyone was suddenly quiet, their eyes glued on us...on me. I gulped as we walked in, Ayame nudging me encouragingly forward.

The room was white, and brightly lit. It was air-conditioned, and the desks were just like the desks we had at our old school, except that these desks were polished mahogany. There was an LCD projector just beside the blackboard and a coffee vending machine at the back of the room.

The students themselves were a mix of all races, human, demon, white, colored, Caucasian, Asian, you name it. They were still staring as the girls and I took the four empty seats at the back, just in front of the coffee vendo.

"Ahem," Annika said pointedly, glaring at the whole room.

The students immediately resumed what they were doing before we came in—chattering. But this time, their chatter was mingled with whispers, whispers that I chose to wisely ignore. I didn't have to ignore them for long, however. Several moments later, the sliding door to the room slid open and, to my surprise, everyone in the room (except the guys) started screaming as the Elite waltzed right in.

Kouga, Inuyasha and Miroku came in. Miroku and Kouga were grinning from ear to ear as girls immediately began giggling. Inuyasha, however, looked grouchy. They took their seats in the center of the room (figures) and immediately several guys engaged them in conversation.

I watched as the girls tried to pull their attention away from the guys' talk of sports and cars. "Is it always like this?" I asked.

Annie sighed. "Oh, yes," she said. "Acting like a bunch of babbling baboons over three boys...ew. Where on earth is there dignity?"

"Where's Sesshoumaru?" I asked.

"He's in his first year of college," Annika said. "He would've been in his second year, if he hadn't skipped because of some trouble with diplomacy abroad, or something."

I was quiet now, staring at the group of popular boys in the middle of the room. One of the girls suddenly tried to touch Inuyasha's ear, and he once again ducked to avoid her probing fingers. I let out a small chuckle. Suddenly—maybe he heard me?—he turned his head towards me. Through the gap between people's arms, his golden eyes found mine.

His eyes widened in shock as a flash of recognition crossed his face. I felt my cheeks burn. He blinked at me and muttered a single word that, because of the din of the other students' chatter, I didn't hear. He narrowed his eyes at me, and my cheeks burned even further. He suddenly turned his attention away from me, and looked at the front of the room.

What...was that...about?

"Something bothering you, Kagome?" Ayame asked. She scraped back her chair. She was holding a cup of steaming mocha, straight from the vendo.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Look, here comes Ms. Tsuruga," Annika said, nodding towards the doorway. A stern woman suddenly entered the sliding doors. She was obviously a demoness. She had on a pale lavender suit. Her eyes were coal black, as was her hair. Her pointed ears stuck out from her coal black hair which fell to her back in gently waves.

"You'd want to watch out for her," Annika warned. "She can't stand students who hate numbers."

"Quiet!" Ms. Tsuruga snapped, rapping on the blackboard with a thin long metallic rod.

I gulped. I was lucky that I could hold my own in Calculus.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Calculus flashed by with just one incident—Ms. Tsuruga had asked me, as the newcomer, to stand up and introduce myself to the class.

Blushing I had stood up, said my name, and immediately sat back down. Several seats in front of me, that boy, Inuyasha, gave me another perplexed look. What was with him?

Ms. Tsuruga didn't give us much to do, saying that we should enjoy this day of freedom as tomorrow, I quote: "All hell shall officially begin." Unquote.

The next two classes—physics and history—pretty much went along the same vein as Calculus. Only the Elite weren't in our classes. I think Annie was sort of grateful for that. I was also getting used to the staring. Though they stared, I hadn't heard them say anything about me, which was a relief.

"What's the next class?" Ayame asked, groaning, as we entered the cafeteria (which resembled the interior of a five-star restaurant).

We sat at a table near a picture window that had a view of the high school grounds. The table was set for four, and already there were covered dishes on it.

"Chem," Sango said, as she opened one of the covered dishes. She closed her eyes and sniffed appreciatively. "Baked oysters—I feel better now." She opened all the other dishes, and I saw that it was a full course—an appetizer of a salad, the name of which I didn't know, and the main course, which was beef in a rich creamy sauce.

I was self-conscious as we ate. Annika, Ayame and Sango all sat upright, and they were using their forks to eat the salad. The way they sat, the way they handled their food was all reminiscent of highly polished table etiquette. I became even more self-conscious as I picked up my fork, wondering if this was the right one as I dug into my salad.

"Kagome," Annika said, her eyes on my fork, her tone serious. "That's your meat fork."

I flushed, set it down and picked up another one. "Ignore her," Sango said, grinning. She was sitting beside Annie, across from me. She nudged Annie lightly with her shoulder. "You want to know something, Kagome? Ayame and I had no idea which fork to use on the first day here—we learned all our table etiquette from Annie."

Annika rolled her eyes and her mouth twitched slightly. "_Someone_ had to teach you manners," Annika muttered. I watched, amazed, as she easily ensnared a lone pea with her fork in one fluid motion.

"Of course," Ayame muttered. "You Brits are always so meticulous about etiquette." Her tone was sarcastic.

"I take that as a compliment."

I hesitated. "Um, don't you guys use chopsticks?" I asked, the question for Ayame and Sango.

Sango shrugged. "Occasionally." She gestured towards a gleaming metal cone at the end of the table, near the window. There were chopsticks in it. "You can, if you want to."

"Never mind," I said, sighing. The food served today would not do for the chopsticks. I sighed again as I tried to eat my salad, this time with the right fork.

"Speaking of the devil!" We were all startled when a loud, gruff voice suddenly boomed from behind Annie and Sango, making us all jump in our seats.

"You...numbskull!" Annie shrieked, her voice sharp even though she was coughing from the food. An arm suddenly slung itself around Annie and Sango's shoulders.

"Hello, ladies!" I looked up, my eyes popping. Kouga's face loomed over between Annie and Sango's, his lean muscular arms gripping each of their shoulders. Whoa—Kouga, one of the _Elite_?

"Ko-Kouga!" Ayame stuttered, her eyes popping in surprise.

"Yo!" Kouga said, grinning at her.

"Let go of us, you baboon!" Annika snapped as she and Sango shrugged off his arms.

"Always so cranky eh, Duchess?" Kouga teased, that annoying grin still on his face. He glanced behind him, at a table where three girls were staring at him like they'd never seen a man before. "Mind if I grab this?" he asked, still grinning, his hand on the back of an empty chair.

The girls giggled and shook their heads. Kouga smirked at them, pulled the chair over to our table, between Annika and Sango, and sat down. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Annika glared sideways at him, Sango let out a sigh of annoyance, and Ayame just blinked, her eyes fixed on him. There was a subtle crimson tinge just beneath her cheeks.

"Can't you see we're eating?" Annika snapped, setting her fork down.

"Eat away, Duchess," Kouga said, shrugging.

"I can't eat when I'm disgusted," Annika pointed out.

Kouga grinned. "That's why I'm here."

I glanced from Annika to Kouga and then to Sango. I thought that Annika, Ayame and Sango were just Everybodies, so—why was one of the Elite mingling casually with them?

That was when Kouga's eyes snapped to me for the first time. He blinked. "Huh? Who're you?" he asked, his tone bored.

I felt annoyed at the pompous arrogance in his voice. "I'm Higurashi Kagome."

"Higu—what?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

I felt my eyes narrowing at him. Yeesh—no wonder Annika had such a pinched expression on her face! The boy sitting across from was as courteous as a hyena!

"You've got ears, I'm sure you heard," I said, trying to control the annoyance.

"Oooh," Kouga said, rolling his eyes. "A smart one! So lemme guess—you're the charity case people have been talking about all day, right?"

All day? The thought was pushed aside by the annoyance building up inside me.

"And you're Kouga, Heir to the Eastern Lands, self-proclaimed heartthrob, annoying hyena, clueless moron—correct?" I snapped, before I could shut my mouth. I glared at him.

Kouga blinked, staring at me, his expression surprised. Annika and the others glanced at me, their mouths slightly open. I take it that no one ever talked that way to Kouga before. No, no one talked that way to one of the Elite before. I suddenly felt the tension in the air, tension coming from Annika, Sango and Ayame, as though they expected Kouga growl at me.

Kouga blinked again and his surprised expression changed back to an easy grin. "You're kinda cute when you're angry," he stated. The entire cafeteria suddenly went quiet.

My eyes bugged out and my mouth hung open. "What?" I snapped. I was suddenly aware of the silence in the cafeteria, a silence as still as the grave. I could feel all eyes glued on me and Kouga.

Kouga winked. "You've got ears, I'm sure you heard," he said, grinning tauntingly.

I felt myself blushing in annoyance. "Why, you...!" I hated it when people threw my own words back at me! I consciously picked up my fork, glaring at him.

"Careful!" Kouga said, suddenly sweeping back his chair and standing up. "You've got The Potential." His grin widened.

Whispers suddenly buzzed around the room like a swarm of hornets.

"Whoa—did you hear that?" a guy from the next table shouted for all the world to hear. "The scholar's got The Potential!"

"Oh Em Gee!" a girl squeaked. "To think that that charity case would have _The Potential_!"

I blinked. The what?

"Now, what's all the commotion about?" a gruff but cultured voice said above the din.

The noise gradually died down. I looked past Kouga, towards the double doors of the cafeteria, through which two figures strolled through. I had no trouble recognizing the main of silver hair of one of them—Inuyasha.

He and Miroku stopped at the doorway and glanced over at us. I froze. There it was again—that look of familiarity and uneasiness when he momentarily glanced my way. It vanished a second later, however, when both he and Miroku strode towards our table.

"Kouga, how could you bother these lovely, lovely ladies?" Miroku said, grinning down at us. "Hello, Sango—you look lovely today, as usual." I could swear I saw his teeth gleam like in the commercials for toothpaste.

Sango raised an eyebrow and I saw her lower lip jut out. "Pft, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes.

Miroku continued to grin as though she had found his compliment amusing, instead of annoying. "Well, Kouga—what're you waiting here for? We'll be late for the next class." He flashed another Casanova grin at Sango, who only rolled her eyes.

"I'll be seeing you around, Kagome," Kouga said and, to my embarrassment, he winked at me.

I blushed and pouted as they walked away, leaving behind a trail of astonishment that silenced the cafeteria. The moment the double doors swung shut behind the trio, the room started buzzing with chatter—all centered on what had just happened.

"Whoa—did you guys see that? Kouga hit on the charity case!"

"No! What does he see in her?"

"This can't be happening, can it?"

"Maybe it's just a fleeting fancy? You know, the same way we all find new gadgets fascinating?"

A gadget? They were comparing me to a gadget? I blushed. In the first place, I didn't want Kouga's attention! I was about to snap at the boy at the next table who was throwing snide glances our way, when I suddenly noticed it.

"Ayame?" I asked, blinking. "Are you alright? You seem troubled."

Ayame's eyebrows met in the center, and her eyes were lowered to her plate of half-eaten food. Her hand, which was resting beside her plate, was clenched ever so gently. At the sound of her name, however, she quickly looked up, and her troubled expression vanished.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine," she said, grinning—a little too unconvincingly, I couldn't help but notice. She took a sip of water—a little too hastily, I noted. She set down her glass. "Well, whaddya know?" she went on cheerfully as she pushed back her chair. "C'mon guys—we don't wanna be late for chem now, do we?"

From the peripheral of my vision, I saw Sango exchange a look with Annika. Something was bothering Ayame, and she wasn't being honest about it.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

The chem lab momentarily drove Ayame's troubled expression from my mind as we entered the room. The walls were a dirty white color. The west wall was covered entirely with rows of silver lockers, with electronic keypads on each. The east wall was covered with shelf upon shelf of chemicals, each labelled accordingly. Beside the shelf of chemicals, there were fume hood where the more toxic chemicals were stored. In the front of the room was a platform, where the teacher's table stood. Behind the teacher's table was an immaculate whiteboard. The tables in the room were built for two. The tops of the tables were made of polished granite. Unlike the other classrooms, this one wasn't air-conditioned, though.

The room was already filled with students. I blinked when I noticed that they were all standing near the teacher's table. The moment we walked in, all eyes zeroed in on us...on me. I inwardly cringed. What was that look in their eyes? It certainly wasn't there this morning.

I was about to settle down at a table when Annie stopped me. "We have to wait for Ms. Blanche before we get a table," she explained, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You see, she assigns us all lab partners for the entire year."

"Oh," I said simply. I stood up. I was about to follow them to the front of the room, when I hesitated. The other students—demon and human alike—were all looking at me. Some of them looked puzzled, others looked accusatory.

"I'm guessing news spreads fast here, huh?" I said, looking down as I followed behind Sango.

"Oh, just ignore them," Sango said. "They're just a bit shocked about Kouga, that's all. He's never really shown that much interest in any of the girls, you see. They're just surprised."

At that moment, the door to the lab slid open and in walked the Elite. The moment they walked in, the girls began giggling behind us, and nudging each other. Inuyasha, Miroku and Kouga walked in as though they owned the place. Miroku and Kouga walked in front, while Inuyasha walked behind them, in the middle. Eh...a wedge formation?

Kouga suddenly glanced in our direction, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. I flushed as he broke rank and strode towards me, leaving a confused Miroku and Inuyasha in his wake.

"Hey there, sweet," Kouga told me, grinning. "Hm...I didn't expect to see you again so soon—you must miss me that much, eh?"

The room suddenly went very quiet, so I could hear the blood rushing to my cheeks. Urgh! He was such a...a jerk!

"My name isn't 'sweet'," I snapped, glaring.

He winked. "Should I call you 'cute', then? You're pretty cute when you're annoyed." The gaggle of girls behind us began buzzing again, and even several of the boys craned their necks to get a good look at my reaction.

I blushed again, and I felt my eyebrow twitching. For an instant, I forgot that I was addressing the young lord of the Northern lands, forgot that I was just a commoner. In that instant, I did something I rarely did before—I blew up.

"You...you..." I stuttered. "You obnoxious buffoon!"

There was a collective gasp from the room. Even Annika, Ayame and Sango looked at me, surprised. Inuyasha's eyes flickered towards me, and then back to Kouga. Miroku looked amused, an easy grin spreading across his face.

"That's why I like ya," Kouga said and—to my astonishment—he slung an arm around my shoulder, drawing me close to him. I felt myself fall sideways against his chest. My cheeks burned even hotter than before. "You're not like the other girls here—they're so boring."

"What?" a random girl shouted.

"Boring?"

"Kouga! How could you? I got these extensions and nose job for you!"

"Boring...me?"

"How could you call us boring?"

"What's all this racket about?" a sharp voice snapped.

Everyone froze as a woman in a black suit and white lab coat strode into the room. She was a human with short black hair that reached just below her earlobes and curving to her cheek. Her bangs were straight, touching her eyebrows. Her eyes were brown, sharp, and they were narrowed at us.

"How dare you behave like a pack of hyenas in my laboratory?" she snapped. Her accent was...French? I couldn't be sure. Her eyes zeroed in on me and Kouga, and I realized that his arm was still slung across my shoulders. "I do not tolerate public displays of affection," she snapped at us. "If you're that impatient, find a room."

My eyes widened as I shrugged Kouga's arm off my shoulder. The professor narrowed her eyes at us all once more. From the periphery of my vision, I saw Inuyasha and Miroku stand by Kouga.

The professor nodded, satisfied that we were all in line. "Good afternoon. As you all may not know, I am Ms. Blanche. You may call me Ms., or professor, or professor Blanche. I do not like idiots making fun of this subject. You are to treat this subject with more respect than your parents. This lab is sacrosanct. Treat it like you would treat your temples—with dignity and respect. Understood?"

There was a collective murmur of acquiescence from the class. She nodded again, satisfied. "Those lockers over there have an electronic keypad in which you can enter your password to get your necessary lab supplies—they are by partner, so you will have to wait until I assign you a partner to open your lockers."

The atmosphere suddenly tensed. It was the same kind of tension that arose when a predator was about to pounce on his unsuspecting prey. I had a shrewd suspicion that the tension was due to the girls wanting to be partners with one of the Elite.

Kouga suddenly looked my way and grinned. I cringed. Hell no! I will NOT be partners with him! I'd rather skip the lab—despite how interesting it would be—than be partners with that annoying wolf!

Ms. Blanche pulled out an envelope from the pocket of her lab coat. "We will be drawing partners," she announced. She momentarily scanned the room and frowned. "Hm, late, eh?" she muttered. "Anyway, I will call you all one by one to draw lab partners. You will be best friends in this lab for a whole year, so work together! Hm...and as to whether or not you draw out someone you don't like...well, that's your problem."

Can this woman read my mind? I glanced uneasily at Kouga to see him still grinning at me. I cringed and looked away from him. Beside me, I heard Ayame let out a long sigh.

"So, Hirogata, you first!" Ms. Blanche said, holding out the envelope.

An athletic boy with black hair and eyes approached and drew from the envelope a slip of pink paper. He read it. "Donnel," he announced.

"Oh, man," a girl with pigtails said. "And I wanted Inuyasha." She sighed as she and Hirogata were assigned a table my Ms. Blanche.

"Taijiya!" Ms. Blanche announced.

Sango's eyebrows shot up as she approached Ms. Blanche. She drew out a slip of paper, and an annoyed look crossed her eyes. "Houshi," she said, visibly irked.

Several girls groaned as Miroku grinned and, together with Sango, walked towards a table in the center of the room. Annika, Ayame, and I glanced at each other...or rather, Annika and I shared a look. Ayame avoided my eyes. Eh?

Several more names were called, but I wasn't paying attention. Why did Ayame deliberately avoid my eyes? Was there something wrong? Or am I just being paranoid?

"Yorozoku!" Ms. Blanche thundered.

The blood froze in my veins as Kouga jumped in front of Ms. Blanche. "Oooh!" several girls gasped.

"Higurashi, Higurashi!" Kouga said loudly as he drew out a slip of paper. I could feel the sharp glares of the girls in the room.

I cringed. One of these days, I swore, I was going to stuff hydrochloric acid down his throat! "The nerve," I growled, turning to Ayame. "Is he always like this?"

"No." I blinked. Her tone was perfunctory, and she didn't look at me when she answered. Was something wrong?

"Drats!" Kouga's voice snapped me out of my musings. "Ayame." He glanced at Ayame, who blinked in surprise. "Ah well—can't be lucky all the time."

Ayame blushed as she and Kouga took the table near the window. "At least you're cute," Kouga muttered, which made Ayame's cheeks burn. Hm...

"It's just you and me, Kagome," Annika said. I glanced around. She must've meant among the four of us, because there were still several girls and boys standing around us...and Inuyasha. He was standing beside Annika, giving off an aura of pure impatience.

"Taisho!" Ms. Blanche called.

The remaining girls squealed as Inuyasha drew out a slip of paper. "Me, me, me!" a girl beside me said. She was actually crossing her fingers.

"Back off, Shira, he's mine!" another finger-crossing girl said.

"Dream on, the two of you!" another huffed.

"Higurashi." The gruff voice suddenly silenced the other voices.

I blinked. Inuyasha was looking at me with a disbelieving and exasperated look on his face. What was with this guy?

"What?" a girl snapped.

"No way!"

"First Kouga, now Inuyasha? You gotta be kidding me!"

I felt my cheeks burning as I approached Inuyasha and he led me to a table near the window. I sat in the chair next to the window and he sat right next to me. I could feel him tense beside me, as though he didn't like the thought of being next to me.

"What's your problem?" I muttered under my breath.

"What?" he asked in that gruff but cultured voice of his.

My eyes flicked to his dog ears. Drats. I'd forgotten that he had sharp hearing. His ear suddenly twitched in annoyance. Somehow, despite my annoyance, I found this funny. I let out a giggle.

"What's so funny?" he snapped.

"Nothing," I sniggered, forgetting my agitation.

Before Inuyasha could say another word, Ms. Blanche's voice cut across the room. "Westerholme!"

I'd almost forgotten about Annie. I looked at her. Only she and two girls were left without partners. Hm...would that mean that one of the girls would have no partner, or would there be a group of three?

Annika seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she had a puzzled look on her face as she drew out a slip of paper. Several tendrils of hair had escaped from her bun, caressing her neck. This only added to the confused and puzzled look she wore as she read the name on the paper.

"Taisho S.?" Annika muttered aloud. Her eyes darted to Inuyasha. There was only one Taisho in the room, wasn't there...?

The door to the lab suddenly slid open, and all pandemonium was unleashed. The girls in the room suddenly stood up and screamed in excitement, their eyes widening and popping open.

"NO WAY!" they screamed in unison.

I stood up to get a good view. My eyes popped in surprise. Sesshoumaru Taisho walked calmly between the aisle, oblivious to the screaming girls on either side of him. His eyes were cold and impassive, not glancing once at the girls who tried to catch his attention with their blood-curdling shrieks.

Sesshoumaru's eyes were colder than ever, and his mouth was set in a thin line, which made me believe that he found all the screaming annoying. I blinked. He wasn't wearing the same black uniform as the other guys—his uniform was white, with black lining. But, somehow, the white of the uniform and the paleness of his skin contrasted ever so slightly, and I understood why all the girls in the room were screaming their hearts out—frankly, saying that he was handsome was a complete understatement.

"Lord Taisho," Ms. Blanche said. "You're late." Not only did she address him with more respect and dignity, she also used the honorific. Hm...what made him so special, anyway?

Sesshoumaru tilted his head slightly to acknowledge her words. "Well," Ms. Blanche said, gesturing towards Annie, who only looked at Sesshoumaru with a look akin to...annoyance? I inwardly chuckled. I guess our group had a thing for being annoyed with the Elite. "Lord Taisho, this is your lab partner, Ms. Westerholme."

"No fair!" a girl shrieked.

"Four Eyes'll bore him to death!" another added.

Annie glared at the girls before she made her way past Sesshoumaru and towards the table behind Inuyasha and me. She sat down behind us, right next to the window, which she glared at. She was so absorbed with glaring at the window, that she didn't even look up when Sesshoumaru sat down gracefully next to her.

Inuyasha glanced behind his shoulder, at Sesshoumaru. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked his elder brother.

"I am not obligated to answer you." Sesshoumaru's voice was like cold velvet, with a note of finality.

Inuyasha scoffed, then glanced back towards the front, where Ms. Blanche was handing out the security passwords to the lockers. I sighed as I let my thoughts drift. People were starting to criticize me already, for being a charity case, for being Kouga's current 'interest' and, now, because I was partnered with Inuyasha.

Yeesh, how unlucky can a girl get?

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"I seem to be getting unluckier with each passing subject," I said, sighing, after chemistry had ended and we were on our way to literature.

Annika, Ayame, Sango and I were the last ones to leave the room. Kouga had lagged behind, claiming that he wanted to walk with me to our next class. He'd relented when I gave him a look that could've melted ice.

"It'll pass, you'll see," Sango reassured.

"Even Kouga?" I wondered aloud.

Annie shrugged. "Perhaps," she said, nodding. "Maybe he just finds you refreshing, that's all. It'll pass, I think."

"I'm just lucky I wasn't paired with him in the lab," I said, sighing with relief. "I think I'd have to skip the subject everyday even if it meant failing it."

"Miroku's such a nuisance," Sango muttered. "Always talking to the girls beside us. You should've seen the look on Brian McKinley's face when his girlfriend, Ruri, started flirting with that womanizing idiot!"

We laughed. "How about you, Annie?" I asked. Even though Annie and Sesshoumaru were right behind Inuyasha and I, I still wanted to know. I'll admit that Sesshoumaru's silent demeanor sort of intimidated me, and I wondered if the same applied to Annie.

Annie chuckled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I don't like him," she declared.

We stopped and stared at her. She shrugged. "He may be quiet, but he's got this 'I am-better-than-you-you-worthless-piece-of-filth' aura."

"You think he's arrogant?" I asked as we resumed walking. "But he didn't even say anything."

Annie shrugged. "What about you, Ayame?" I asked, smiling at her.

Ayame was looking ahead as she answered. "Kouga kept staring at you the whole while," she said. There was a funny note in her voice. "He kept trying to persuade me to tell him all about you—where you lived, what you liked, boyfriends you've had, and so on. It was annoying." Her voice was suddenly filled with bitter humor. "I told him to stalk you, just to get him off my back, actually."

As Annika and Sango threw glances at each other, I suddenly felt uneasiness welling up inside me. "Ayame...are you alright?" I asked.

She increased her pace so she walked ahead of us. Dread suddenly took hold of me as the suspicion I've held since the lab began suddenly sunk in. She liked Kouga, didn't she? And she was...jealous? Oh, man. This could not be happening. I cannot possibly be making an enemy out of my new friend on the first day of school!

I felt Sango nudge me gently forward and I walked faster so I kept up with Ayame. "Ayame, hold on," I said, grabbing her arm. She stopped, her back still to me. "What's wrong?" I asked, despite already knowing. "You've been a bit...moody since lunch."

Ayame sighed. And then she pulled her arm away from me. "Just leave me alone, Kagome, won't you?" she said. My eyes widened when I realized how helpless she sounded.

"Can't we talk?" I pleaded. "Please. It's...it's about Kouga, isn't it?"

She suddenly spun around, her fiery hair swaying almost dramatically past her face. Her eyes were hard. "I said leave me alone!" she snapped. I suddenly felt her demonic aura rise, and my eyes widened even further. Several students nearby stared at us. "Just leave me alone, won't you?" Ayame's voice rose in pitch, and I took a step back.

"Ayame!" There wasn't only accent in Annika's voice—there was something else. I couldn't figure it out, but whatever it was, it made Ayame widen her eyes in realization and surprise.

Ayame's demonic aura slowly faded away, and she slowly lowered her eyes to the ground. "A...yame?" I said hesitantly, still shocked from her temper.

"It's not fair," she whispered, her voice strained. She suddenly looked up at me, her eyes filled with tears. "It's just not fair!" She suddenly whipped around and ran across the hall, her fiery hair bouncing behind her. Several people turned to stare at me.

"Ayame, wait!" I shouted.

But she was gone.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**A1969: That's it for now.  
Inuyasha: that was it?  
A1969: hey! When did you get in here?  
Inuyasha: I was here the whole time, stupid.  
Kagome: actually, we just got here.  
A1969: O.O oh well...the more the merrier, right? Haha! Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed, I sort of used the Japanese for what they are for the surnames. Like Sango Taijiya. 'Taijiya', as all those IY fans know by now, means 'slayer' or 'exterminator'. Sorry, I just couldn't make up any Japanese surnames, at the moment. Oh, and please don't forget to review!**


	3. The Idea

**/.\./.\./.\./.\  
**Chapter Three  
-The Idea-  
**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

What was I going to do?

As I stood there in the hallway, motionless, I failed to notice the other students staring at me, failed to notice Annie place a hand on my shoulder and Sango looking down at the hallway, as though expecting to see Ayame run back to us.

No, the only thing I was aware of was the loud thudding of my heartbeat. I was sure that the demon students in the hall could hear it...

"Kagome?" Sango said gently.

Her voice snapped me out of my reverie. I blinked. "What happened?" I mumbled. "Why did Ayame...?"

Sango and Annika glanced at each other. "C'mon," Annie said, leading us away from the hallway and away from the curious eyes that stared after us. "Let's go somewhere private—we still have thirty minutes to the next class, anyway."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

Annie's idea of 'private' turned out to be none other than the library. Situated at the far end of the high school building, the library was several minutes away from our next classroom ("So we won't be late," Annie explained). The moment we stepped in, my eyes bugged open. The library was a vast room—no doubt a cathedral would have fit inside of it. The floor was made of pure marble. Shelves upon shelves of books spread out as far as the eye can see. There were balconies with more bookshelves. An elderly human librarian—her hair in a bun like Annie's—was sitting behind a desk just near the door.

"Over here," Annie whispered. She led us to an elevator near the librarian's desk. We stepped in and Annie hit the fourth floor button. We were wrapped in silence as the elevator ascended and came to halt.

We stepped out into a marble hallway, lined with polished wooden doors, the intricate rose symbol of GARA carved into each. Annie walked down the hallway and stopped at the fifth door. She grasped the bronze handle and stepped in. The door led to one of the many balconies. There was just one table here and two bookshelves. I looked over the balcony, down at the library. Several students were milling about the bookshelves at the ground floor, most of them sitting at the tables, their heads buried in books.

Annie and Sango sat down at the table and I hesitantly joined them. "So..." I began quietly. "Can someone tell me what's up with Ayame?"

Sango let out a small sigh. "Well," she began. "You probably don't know, but—"

"Ayame is in love with Kouga," Annie cut in.

My suspicions were confirmed. It suddenly felt as though I were in a vacuum—everything was suddenly quiet as the surprise set in. Surprise for me, that is. It suddenly made sense—why Ayame was quiet when Kouga approached me, her indifferent mien towards me in the lab...

I should have known.

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "Just great," I mumbled. Love was one of the most complicated topics to discuss. Why did it have to be love? This was really cliché.

"It's not your fault," Annie said in her accented Japanese. I looked up at her. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and frowned at me. "Honestly," she went on, "that look on your face is rather pathetic—get rid of it. As I said, _it is not your fault._"

Sango was about to say something, but Annie plowed on. "Kouga takes a fancy to you—it's not your fault. It's not like you seduced him or anything—that would then be your fault, obviously."

"But Ayame is mad at me," I groaned.

Sango sighed. "She's not mad," she said.

"Then what do you call her yelling at me in the hallway?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's just upset," Sango said. "She's been in love with Kouga since he first saved her life, she says."

"How did they meet?" I asked, curious.

Annie and Sango shrugged in sync. "We're not quite sure," Annie said, matter-of-factly. "We never bothered asking."

Sango gave her a flat look. "Actually, she wanted to share with us, but you kept on telling her that you hated love stories," she pointed out.

The Duchess shrugged. "Love stories are such a waste of time, don't you agree?" she said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, back to Ayame."

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, chewing my lower lip. "What do you suggest?"

"Just give her time to cool down," Sango said gently, smiling at me. "You'll see. Sooner or later, maybe even tonight, she'll come straight to you with an apology."

I sighed. I hoped so.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

Five minutes before the bell rang, Annie, Sango and I stepped into the classroom for Literature. The moment we entered, whispers flew around as people glanced pointedly in my direction. Several girls threw me looks of deepest disgust, and I felt myself blush as Annika led us to several seats at the back.

"_Ahem,"_ Annika said sharply to the people who were craning their necks to get a good look at me. They immediately looked away. "Like idiots without manners," Annika muttered, crossing her arms and huffing. "And to think they're born in families with class."

I smiled weakly at her. "Thanks," I mouthed.

She nodded. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. I was dimly aware of Sango getting up to get herself a cup of coffee from the vendo at the back of the room. I was more preoccupied with thinking about Ayame. Where was she? I'd have thought that three years of being with Annie taught her to be on time for class...

Please don't let her skip because of me. I already felt bad about Kouga. I mean...I'd just started out here, and I'd already managed to make an enemy of my friend...

"Kagome?" Sango asked, setting her cup of coffee down.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You alright? You look really spaced out," she said.

I shrugged weakly. "Stop thinking about Ayame," Anne said dismissively, folding her arms across her chest. "She'll come off it, you'll see. Besides, it isn't really your fault that that moron of a—"

"Hey!" a high-pitched voice snapped.

We looked up. Three girls were standing in front of our desks. They were insanely beautiful. One girl had golden pigtails that fell to her knees. Another had eyes so dark and wide, you'd feel as though you were drowning in them. The last girl had skin so white, snow would look pale next to her.

"You're that charity case, aren't you?" Golden Pigtails said, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.

I flushed. "Her name isn't Charity Case, Fancy," Anne said, leaning her cheek against her palm. Fancy's eyes—bluer than the sky—snapped to her. "It's Kagome. I think it says so clearly on her ID...unless, of course, you're too stupid to read."

The girl glared. "No one asked your opinion, Four Eyes," Fancy snapped, pigtails bouncing dangerously.

"Tell us, how are things at the library, Nerdzilla?" Dark Eyes said, sniggering.

"I'm surprised you know how to use 'library' in a sentence, Angelique," Anne said, smirking.

Sango and I stared at her. I was touched that she was taking the insults for me and, at the same time, awed that she could counter them so quickly without slightest blush on her cheeks.

Angelique glared. "Hey, Westerholme," the last girl, Snow White, said. "You know what looks pathetic?"

"Why, I believe that would be having your pallor, Charlene," Annika said, chuckling. "You look badly in need of a blood transfusion."

"You little Nobody!" Quick as a flash, Fancy grabbed Sango's cup of coffee and hurled the contents at Annie.

Annie held up a hand, and it was as if the dark liquid stopped in mid-air, just inches from her face. "Boo," Annie said as, with a flick of the wrist, the warm liquid splashed towards the three girls, who shrieked.

"Fight!" several boys shouted. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Westerholme, you bitch!" Angelique shrieked. Coffee dripped from her hair. I felt a sharp rise in her demonic aura as she glared at Annie, who stood up and threw her a look of deepest loathing.

"Annie, don't," I said, standing up and tugging on her arm.

"Fight! Fight!" several boys chanted.

"Shut up!" Sango snapped, standing up, and glaring at them.

"Don't you dare call me that!" Annika snapped. I felt her aura rising, but it was strange—I couldn't place it. "I am the Duchess of Westerholme, granddaughter to the Crown, and I will not allow you to call me a bitch!"

Um…wasn't she the one who said that everyone was equal in GARA? The thought slipped my mind as a sharp voice suddenly rang throughout the room.

"What on earth is going on here?"

Everyone turned to the front, where a middle-aged man with black, cropped hair, and copper skin stood. He was wearing a taupe turtleneck, and his arms were crossed. His black eyes were narrowed severely at the class, his angular jaw set.

"Professor Saunders, Miss Westerholme purposefully spilled her coffee on us!" Angelique declared dramatically.

"They were harassing Miss Higurashi!" Sango spoke up.

"We were not!" Angelique snapped.

"Quiet!" Professor Saunders barked. He turned a severe eye on Angelique. "I do not tolerate any kind of bullying in my class, Ms. Dugrand. Keep that in mind, or I will drop the three of you"—he pointed to her, Charlene, and Fancy—"from the subject. Do I make myself clear?" They nodded. "Now, get out of my class, and get cleaned up. Don't bother coming back for today."

They glared daggers at Annie, Sango, and I as they walked haughtily out of the room. "And as for you, Miss Westerholme," Professor Saunders said, turning to her. "I expected better from you, and you reacted to their bait."

"They were about to spill coffee on her!" I defended. Annie threw me a cautionary look, and shook her head. I bit my lower lip.

"But she isn't the one soaked, now, is she?" Professor Saunders said, frowning. "Miss Westerholme, it's only fair that I ask you step out of my class for today."

I felt my stomach drop. What have I done?

"Yes, Professor," Annika said, nodding as she retrieved her things from her desk.

"I will not put this on your file, but let this serve as a warning," the professor went on. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, professor."

"Good, now go."

Annika sighed as she walked past us. "See you guys later," she mumbled.

I bit my lip. This was all my fault! I felt Sango clutch my arm. She gave me a small smile, as though she could read my troubled thoughts. "It'll be alright," she whispered. "Annie won't hold it against you."

That didn't stop me from worrying.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"We have to find Annie," I said as the bell rang an hour later.

"I know just where to look," Sango said as she led me in the direction of the library. She walked past the library door, and turned right. I blinked when we suddenly found ourselves in an open corridor that led out to a small courtyard, in the middle of which was a fountain. Vines snaked around the pillars of the corridor, their white buds tightly furled. It was a very picturesque place.

Annie was standing by a stone bench near the fountain, but she wasn't alone. Her arms were crossed and she was glowering at none other than Sesshoumaru Taisho, who gave her an impassive look.

Sango and I glanced at each other, surprised.

"Well, no one really cares what _you_ think, Taisho," Annika was saying, as she picked up her book bag. She turned her back on him and saw us.

"Annie," I said. It was safe to say Sango and I were embarrassed to be caught eavesdropping.

"Oh, hello," Annie said nonchalantly as she approached, without another backward glance at Sesshoumaru, who gave Sango and me a look of pure annoyance as he turned on his heel stalked off.

"Uh…what was that about?" Sango asked hesitantly, watching Sesshoumaru leave.

Annika frowned. "He was passing by, and wondered why I bothered myself with the likes of you," Annie told me, rolling her eyes. "Arrogant, pompous jerk."

Sango scoffed. "When isn't he?"

I bit my lower lip. "Annie, I'm sorry," I said as we walked past the library. "It's because of me that you got sent out."

She scoffed. "Don't trouble yourself, Kagome, I'm the one who got coffee in their pretty hair."

"But—"

"Forget it," she said tersely.

I hesitated. "Thank you," I said quietly. "Thanks for standing up for me."

Annika turned to me, an eyebrow raised. "You shouldn't be thanking me, since it's a friend's job, but if it makes you feel any better, you're welcome."

I smiled. "Now, what did you lot take up in Literature?" Annika went on.

"The _Iliad_," Sango said.

"Professor Saunders spent half the time explaining his views on _The Judgement of Paris_," I added.

Annika rolled her eyes. "No class orientation? If that's the case, I'm glad I was sent out. Paris was an idiot."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

PE was the last subject for the day. It was held in the east wing of the high school building, with the entire wing being understandably soundproof. The wing was divided so that several tennis courts, and a basketball court could be accommodated inside. At the far end of the wing, the wall was covered in rock climbing holds. The ceiling was high, reaching about two storeys. The floor at my feet was rubberized.

"Cool," I muttered.

Sango chuckled as she led the way towards the girls' locker room. We were early, so thankfully no one was around yet. "By the way," Annie said as she changed. "Did Ayame come in for Literature?"

I was about to change into my PE shirt when Annika's question froze me. I bit my lip. "She didn't," I said quietly. "Sango and I waited. I hoped she'd just be late, but…she didn't come into class at all, and it's my fault." I sat on the wooden bench, my shoulders hunched. I twiddled my thumbs together, frowning.

Sango clicked her tongue as she sat beside me. "It isn't your fault," she said firmly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Ayame is just upset, is all."

"But she's upset _because _of me!" I insisted, looking desperately at them both. Honestly, I felt like such a total jerk.

"She's upset because of Kouga," Annika said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, it's rather daft, skiving on classes because of some boy." She shook her head. "I'll talk to her later, if she doesn't show up for PE."

My eyes widened. "But…but…she's gotta show, right?" I said. "I mean…that would be two classes that she'd miss out on, on the very first day! Maybe we should find her?"

Annie sighed. "The thing about Ayame is," she began. "If she doesn't want to be found, she will not be found. I should know, I've tried looking for her when I was sent out."

"Where could she be?" I wondered, as I pulled on my jogging pants.

Annika was about to say something, when the door to the locker room swung open, and a bevy of girls entered. Annika, Sango, and I glanced at each other as we quickly changed to avoid another scene.

"Anyway, after PE, I think we can go and look for her," Sango said as we walked out of the locker rooms without incident.

I sighed as I pulled my hair into a ponytail. I wanted to find Ayame right now and apologize to her. "Stop worrying so much," Annika said as we made our way to the middle of the wing, where PE lectures were usually held.

Sighing, I turned to face Annie, who suddenly stopped in her tracks, an eyebrow raised petulantly. "On second thought," she said. "_Be_ worried."

Sango and I gave each other curious looks as we looked towards middle of the wing. There, standing in all their glory, were none other than Miroku, Inuyasha and Kouga, all of whom wore the PE uniform.

Oh, damn.

"Oy, Kagome!" Kouga called out the moment he caught sight of me. Several girls who, were about to scream their love and adoration for the Elite, froze and turned to stare at me with steely eyes.

"This…is a joke, right?" I muttered as Kouga came closer. With every step he took, I felt like I was on the verge of my doom.

"Nope, no joke!" Kouga said as he casually slung his arms across my shoulders. "You are one lucky girl, Higurashi Kagome." He winked at me.

I flushed as Miroku and Inuyasha approached us. That's it!

"Will you please stop that?!" I screeched as I roughly shrugged off his arm. He looked surprised, while Annie and Sango looked smug. "Can't you take a hint? You're annoying, you're rude, you're irksome, you're crass! How could you think that I could possibly like someone as insensitive as you? Do us both a favour, and stay off my back!"

Kouga blinked, looking as though someone had hit him on the head with a sledgehammer. It had gone very quiet around us, and I noticed that a small circle of people had formed around Kouga and I. Annika and Sango looked very smug. Miroku chuckled, enjoying Kouga's bewildered expression, while Inuyasha looked…satisfied?

"Wow," Kouga said. "You must really like me a lot."

I was dumbfounded. Seriously, his obliviousness was beyond astounding.

"I do not like you!" I hissed. "I'm sorry to say this, but you're not even my type!"

Kouga only smirked at me. "I like a chase, Kagome," he warned, grinning. "And trust me, I'll catch you in no time."

My eyebrow twitched. Why did that line make me feel as though I was easy? I felt like screaming at the ceiling! "You…you!" I stammered, too pissed off to form a coherent sentence.

"You're speechless, I know," Kouga said, shrugging. "Don't worry, sweet, I tend to do that to girls sometimes."

"Hear! Hear!" a random boy in the back shouted, to which several more boys wolf-whistled.

"That charity case is sooo lucky!" a feminine voice piped up.

"I wish I was in her shoes."

"Nuh-uh, her shoes are old."

"I want Kouga to catch _me_!"

"Will you please control your friend?" Annika snapped at Inuyasha.

"Keh!" Inuyasha said, crossing his arms, and pouting. "It's _his_ love life!" He gave Kouga a very annoyed look.

"You can't deny true love, you know," Miroku said, winking at Sango, who glared at him. All around us, the voices of the other students grew louder, and I inwardly groaned. Was I doomed to be the unluckiest girl on the planet?

Annie massaged her temples, and let out a frustrated sigh. "If you can't control Kouga, I'm sure your elder brother can," she told Inuyasha grudgingly. "Where is he?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Chem was the only subject he had with us, you know," Inuyasha said, giving her a meaningful look.

"Don't bother yourself, I can handle Kouga," I reassured her. No need for her to get worked up because of me again.

"You can handle me anytime you want Kagome," Kouga said, winking suggestively.

My eyes bugged out as a violent flush spread across my face. "You…you…_you_…!" I snarled.

"I can hold him, while you punch Kagome," Sango said menacingly as she cracked her knuckles.

"_Scheisse!" _I screeched.

Kouga blinked at me and grinned. "You know, you're adorable when you curse in German."

"What on earth are you people up to?" a loud voice boomed.

Everyone turned to the great doors of the east wing. A woman stood there, her violet hair in a tight ponytail. She wore a white tank top and a pair of navy blue yoga pants, as well as a heavy scowl on her face. Her arms were crossed, and her violet eyes were narrowed menacingly at us. Obviously a demon. Judging from the way she walked, and the intense aura she gave off, she was a supermodel/demon/military woman/PE teacher.

The male populace of the class—with the exception of Inuyasha and Kouga, I noted—were understandably dumbstruck.

She stopped in front of us, placing a hand on her hip. She held a clipboard with the other hand. For a fleeting instant—I felt guilty for thinking of it, but I was just too mad to think otherwise—I imagined that clipboard striking Kouga on the head and knocking some sense into him.

"Mr. Yorozoku," she said, a stern eye on Kouga. "I do not tolerate public displays of affection in my class, or harassment, for that matter."

Kouga tried his best to look innocent. "Won't happen again, Ms. Sharpe, I promise," he said, keeping his fingers crossed behind his back. Urgh! I wanted to throttle him!

"As to you, Ms. Higurashi," she said, frowning at me. I inwardly cringed. She was scary. "I'd have thought that scholars know better."

"But—" I protested.

She held up a hand. "Enough. We've lost a total of five minutes, standing here and talking about your love lives. Now…GET INTO LINE!"

Feeling disgruntled, I stood next to Annie and Sango as the other students began to file into line. If I wasn't so absorbed with thinking about how to get Kouga off my back, I would have noticed that everyone—even the Elite—stood perfectly straight, with their shoulders back, as though the woman pacing in front was not a PE teacher, but a general about to lead her troops off to battle.

"Another year with me," Ms. Sharpe began, pacing back and forth. Her voice was loud, as in, reach for the ceiling loud. "PE, as you all know, is seen by most as being synonymous with throwing balls around, running back and forth, and having senseless _fun_. I am here to tell you that you are WRONG in your assumptions."

"Yes, Kagome," Sango whispered as Ms. Sharpe strode past. "She was a lieutant in the Canadian army, before she decided to come here."

My eyes bugged out.

"Ms. Taijiya!" Ms. Sharpe was suddenly in front of us. "You know perfectly well I can't stand people talking when _I'm_ talking."

"Yes, Ma'am," Sango said hastily. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Ms. Sharpe nodded. "And to ensure that it won't happen again…give me fifty wall push-ups. Now."

My eyes widened even further…

Oh boy. Why did I get the feeling that this was going to be a _really_ rough year?

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

Aside from the spectacle of Sango doing fifty wall push ups—much to Miroku's amusement—nothing out of the ordinary occurred during PE. Like Ms. Tsuruga, Ms. Sharpe spent the first day orienting the class on what to expect during the entire school year. She ended the class orientation with a rather ominous announcement that we would be wall climbing tomorrow ("So I can gauge how fit you are before we proceed," she had said).

Throughout the class, I kept an eye out for Ayame, but, as in Literature, she didn't show up. I felt even guiltier now. Now that the last subject for the day was done with, I wanted to find Ayame, and find her fast.

"She'll show up for Trig, I'm sure," Annika muttered once we were back in the changing rooms. We were the last ones to get changed. "She wouldn't dare miss out on it, she's already failed it once."

"Maybe I could just go and find her, before Trig starts," I offered as I combed out my hair with my fingers.

Annika closed her locker. "I've already told you that I tried looking for her when I was unceremoniously dismissed from class," she reminded. "I couldn't find her in the entire building, and mind you, I've looked in every nook and cranny."

I chewed my lower lip. "What if something bad happened to her?" I asked.

Sango shook her head. "She would never leave the school grounds, no. I think she went for a nice, mind-clearing hike in the mountains," she said as we made our way out.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, stopping Sango's hand from pushing the door open.

"What?" Sango said quickly, eyes alert.

"Could you…could you check if _he's _out there?" I asked hesitantly. I did not want Kouga trailing me all the way to our Quarters!

Sango peeked. "No Kouga, but Inuyasha's out here," she announced, pushing open the door.

"Hey, Inuyasha!" Sango called out cheerfully.

"Hey," he said gruffly. His eyes slid to me for a moment, before turning to Annika. "Anne, we have to talk."

Annika raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're talking already, so continue," she said.

Inuyasha gave her an annoyed look. "It's important!"

"Well, then, don't waste your breath."

Inuyasha made an annoyed sound at the back of his throat. "Yeesh! I need to talk to you alone, can't you take a hint?" he snapped, his voice louder.

Annika frowned. "We've talked about it before, Inuyasha," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose. Her voice had lost its briskness. She sounded subdued. "And I don't want to talk about it again."

"This isn't about _that_," Inuyasha huffed, pouting (admittedly, he looked like a child when he did that—a cute one, though). His eyes slid to mine again, before snapping back to Annie. "It's about something else entirely."

Anne looked thoughtfully at him. "Right, then," she said. She turned to Sango and me. "I'll catch up with guys back at the Quarter. If you get hungry, there's food in the fridge, and be sure to _clean up after!"_

"C'mon, Kagome," Sango said as she led me away. "Truth be told, I am quite hungry."

I glanced over my shoulder. Anne and Inuyasha were talking in hushed voices now. Annika was looking at Inuyasha with a frown on her face, as though she didn't like what she was hearing. For his part, Inuyasha looked frustrated as he tried to drive his point across.

"I wonder what they're talking about," I muttered as we left the east wing. "They seemed pretty serious."

Sango shrugged. "Could be anything," she said. "Anne seemed to know Inuyasha ever since our freshman year, but she wouldn't elaborate. She doesn't like the Elite, she thinks they're very annoying."

I suddenly remembered all the girls who screamed whenever any one of the Elite were around. "Well, I'd be annoyed too, I guess," I said.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"I love it when Annie keeps this fridge stocked," Sango said as she fished out a tub of ice cream from the freezer. We were both in the kitchen, and I was sitting at the table, watching. "Hey, do you like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or Blue Berry Crumble?" Sango asked, holding two tubs of Häagen-Dazs.

I blinked. I'd only ever tried Häagen-Dazs twice in my life, and both times they were free samples. They were unnecessarily expensive. "Uh…Cookie Dough?"

She grinned. "Excellent!" she said. "Straight from the tub?"

"Let's pray Annie doesn't find out," I said, chuckling.

"You and I will get along just fine, Kagome," Sango said, winking.

I grew quiet as we ate. "Something bothering you?" Sango asked.

"Um…Ayame," I said. I couldn't get her angry eyes out of my head.

Sango leaned back in her seat. "I'll be frank, I've never seen Ayame this upset before," she began. "But I've never known Ayame to hold a grudge. She's just not capable of it. I think she knows you did nothing wrong Kagome. I think she's just very upset with the situation. She's been in love with Kouga for a long time now."

I sighed. "I just don't understand why Kouga would even bother with someone like me!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

Sango dug her spoon into the ice cream. "I can't really answer for him," she said apologetically. "Stop worrying, Kagome, I'm sure Ayame will get over it."

"Yeah, but—"

"Sango, are you guys back?"

I froze as Ayame's voice echoed from the hallway. I glanced at Sango, who nodded at me. Abandoning our ice cream, we both stood up.

Ayame was standing in the hallway, looking hesitant. The moment she saw me, she stiffened. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. I wondered what _I_ must have looked like, with all the guilt I felt.

"Ayame," I said hesitantly, reaching a hand out to her.

She took a step back, placing a hand on the doorknob behind her, as though she wanted to go out. She hesitated…and then she threw herself at me, crushing me in a hug.

"Kagomeeeeee!" she cried, her arms holding me tighter. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I shouted at you even though you did nothing wrong! I'm sorry I was such a total jerk to you this morning! I'm sorry I skipped on so many lectures because I was upset! Urgh, this is all Kouga's fault, annoying wolf! I'm sorry!"

I blinked in surprise, and glanced over at Sango. She gave me a knowing smile and shrugged, as though to reassure me that this was how Ayame normally apologized to people.

"Ayame," I said as I felt her arms tighten even more. "I…can't…breathe properly."

"Oh," Ayame sniffled as she loosened her hold. "I'm so sorry!"

"Ayame—"

"You've been a very good friend, and I've been such a jerk to you!"

"Um, Ayame—"

"I swear, I won't ever be mad at you because of Kouga again!"

"AYAME!" I said, raising my voice. She immediately kept quiet, and gave me a curious look. "I'm sorry, too," I said. "I didn't know you liked Kouga."

"No, no, no!" Ayame persisted. "It's not your fault…its Kouga's! That jerk!" She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "You…you don't like him, do you?"

"No!" I said, surprised by the vehemence in my voice. "He's…I'm sorry to say this, but he's really annoying…and a schmuck!"

Ayame smiled weakly. "He can be," she admitted. "But he's actually a very nice person."

"How long have you been in love with him?" I asked as we made our way to the living room. We sat down on the couch, and Sango and I looked expectantly at her.

She shrugged. "Ever since I was a little girl, and he saved me from demons," she admitted. "I think that was…over…five hundred years ago? Before humans and demons decided to co-exist."

"What?!" Sango and I couldn't keep the astonishment from our voices.

"That long?" Sango said, to which Ayame nodded.

"How…how did you two meet?" I asked.

"I was training during that time," Ayame said, a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered. "I wanted to be able to use an iris flower as a weapon, you see. I was still a child then, and every inexperienced. I got lost near the nest of the Birds of Paradise demons."

"I tried to hide," Ayame went on. "But they still found me. I was about to be devoured, but then Kouga came and saved me. I've loved him ever since. However…he doesn't seem to remember all that."

"It was _centuries_ ago, Ayame, what do you think?" a snide voice said.

We all turned to the hallway. Annie was standing in front of the door, her arms crossed, and an amused expression on her face. Had she been listening there the whole time?

"Besides," Annie said as she joined us on the couch. "You should have reminded him. You should have told him how you felt."

"Well, that was very tactful," Sango told her sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

Annie shrugged. "It's true."

Ayame let out a heavy sigh of frustration. "Well, I regret not telling him," she said, giving me a pointed look. I inwardly cringed. "But there's nothing I can do about it, though. What's done is done."

It was then an idea hit me with the same impact as the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. "Wait…" I said slowly. "Ayame…what if I helped you and Kouga get together?"

"What?" Ayame said, her eyebrows rising.

"You heard me," I said. "Kouga likes annoying me every chance he gets. What if…what if I somehow helped you two get together?"

"And how," Annie said snidely as she stood up and made a beeline for the kitchen, "will you do that? Drag Ayame on dates with you and Kouga? In case you haven't noticed, Kouga is head-over-heels for you."

"Leave it to me," I said, grinning as the enormity of the idea sank in. I liked it! I was sure I could push them together, I just knew it! Sango grinned and Ayame looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"You'd…you'd do that?" Ayame asked slowly, hardly daring to believe her ears.

I nodded. "Of course!" I was more than eager to make up for 'stealing' Kouga away. Besides…it was a very good idea to get him off my back.

Ayame's eyes watered again. "Oh, Kagomeeeee!" she cried, launching herself at me. "Really? Thank you so much!"

I grinned at her. "Between us, I'm sure we'll be able to deal with Kouga," I said, happy that she was once more cheerful.

"Who on earth ate the ice cream straight from the tub?!" Annie shrieked from the kitchen.

"Damn," Sango said. "We forgot about the ice cream, Kagome."

"Yeah," I said. I turned my attention to Ayame. "I think we should deal with Annie first, though."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**Firstly, yes, I am still very much alive. I've been very busy over the years, but not quite as busy now, so expect regular-ish updates from me in the future!**

**Second, I've gone through all the stories I've ever written, and let me tell you guys this…I cringed. I absolutely cringed when I re-read my older stories. The writing was in very poor style, some characters were OOC (especially Sesshoumaru), I had typos (I actually used 'loose' instead of 'lose'! Kill me now!), there were redundancies. Yeah…cringed. I cannot promise to re-write those stories (that would take several lifetimes xD), but I can promise you guys this: I will improve my writing, and make it even better : )**

**Last, but not the least, I want to thank you all for reviewing, for following, and for putting this story in your favorites! Your reviews really mean a LOT. So thank you : )**


	4. The Announcement

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**Chapter Four**

**-The Announcement -  
**  
**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I groaned as I rolled over in my bed. Not yet…please not yet...

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Five more minutes? Was that too much to ask? I mean…please?

_Beeep. Beeep. Beeep._

_Click!_

"Get up, Kagome!" I groaned as I felt an all-too familiar pair of hands persistently shaking me. That voice...accented Japanese…

It's _her._

"Not yet," I moaned, covering my head with a pillow. "Five minutes. Have mercy."

The pillow suddenly vanished, and my eyes snapped open. "Wha—?"

A second later, the pillow fell against my face._ Hard._

"Aaargh!" I shouted as Anne struck my head with the pillow again. "Annie!"

"Get up, Higurashi!" she exclaimed, as she raised the pillow threateningly again.

"Stop, I'm up! I'm up!" I said hastily as I sat up in bed and raised my hands in surrender.

Annika was, as usual, already dressed in her uniform, her honey-gold hair in a librarian-bun on her head, and her glasses perched on her nose. She was standing beside my bed, one hand on her hip, and the other still clutching the pillow. She looked threatening.

"What's the time?" I asked, yawning.

"6:30," she said curtly as she dumped the pillow on my lap. She turned towards the door. "Get a move on, I've got breakfast ready," she said, looking at me from over her shoulder.

"Right," I said nodding. I smiled to show my sincerity. Anne huffed as she waltzed out of the room. The minute she was out, I fell back down on my bed and groaned, covering my eyes with my arm to keep out the glare of the lights.

"Hey, Kagome," a tired voice said.

I removed my arm just as Sango and Ayame collapsed on either side of me, both girls still in their pyjamas. They seemed to find it convenient to snooze in my room, what with the bathroom being right next to it.

"Did she beat you guys awake, too?" I groaned, covering my eyes again.

"Uh-huh," Ayame said, yawning. "At least it was a pillow this time."

"What do you mean?" I asked, still groggy.

"The last time Ayame snoozed for fifteen minutes, Annie dumped a bucket of ice water on her," Sango said drowsily.

My eyes popped open. "That's extreme," I said, now miraculously alert.

"That's just Anne being obsessive-compulsive," Ayame said. "Anywaaaay…" She suddenly leapt off the bed. She stretched, her joints popping. "I'll be first, okay?"

"Take your sweet time," Sango said, waving a hand.

**. . .**

It was amazing how much food Annie could make. By the time Sango, Ayame, and I had finished showering and dressing, we headed to the kitchen to find the table groaning under the weight of bowls of porridge, a plate of sausages, eggs, bacon—to name a few.

"And this," Sango said as she busied herself with the coffeemaker at the counter, "is the reason why it's so hard to despise you, Annie." She grinned as she sat back at the table, a steaming cup of coffee cradled between her hands.

Anne scoffed. She was reading a book, which she'd propped up against the glass milk pitcher. I took a look at the title. "Calculus?" I said, surprised. This was not normal—_no one_ studied _that_ when all this food was in front of them!

To my surprise, Anne blushed. "Preparation is key," was all she said as she flipped a page.

"Annie nearly failed Trig last year," Ayame offered. A vein twitched at Anne's temple as she glared at Ayame from over her book. "She hates math."

"Don't we all?" I said conciliatorily. Ayame was oblivious to the death glare Anne was sending her.

"Don't all scholars love math?" Sango teased, digging her spoon into her porridge.

"Hey, that's stereotyping!" I said, folding my arms and pouting.

"Balderdash," Annika said as she closed her book. "I happen to know that you have astounding grades in math in your old school."

I blinked as I turned to her. "Uh…how did you know? Isn't it illegal to hack personal files?"

"And who said I did any hacking?" Annika said, shrugging innocently.

Okaaay. "I could tutor you, if you want," I offered hesitantly. Anne was, admittedly, stubborn as an ox…maybe even more than ox.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said dryly. "You lot have to hurry."

I glanced towards the clock. "It's only 7:30, Anne," I pointed out. "A little early, don't you agree?"

Her expression darkened, and I inwardly quailed. That look was menacing. I actually expected little black spectres to hover around her.

"The Elite usually leave their quarter at 8:00," Sango explained.

Remembering the crowd of screaming girls that had gathered around the first quarter yesterday, I think I understood Annie's expression. I'd be annoyed too if I had to go through _that_ every day.

Oh wait…I would.

**. . .**

Sango, Annie, Ayame, and I came out of the elevator to find a small crowd surrounding the bulletin board in the opulent lobby of the building. "Wonder what they're looking at," Sango muttered as we approached. We stood on tiptoe to get a good look at the sign.

_Announcement:_

_Welcome to another school year at Golden Acres Royal Academy! We are reminding secondary and tertiary level students who wish to run for positions in the Student Council for their corresponding level to submit their applications to the Student Affairs Office on or before September 14, 2010._

_Students in the tertiary level who wish to run for Overall Head of the Student Body, kindly submit your applications to the Student Affairs Office no later than September 13, 2010._

_Have a good day!_

"Oh, Student Council elections," I mused, as I read.

"I wonder who'll be running for Overall Head this year," Ayame said as we turned away from the crowd.

"Overall Head?" I asked as we made for the double oak doors.

"Each of the colleges have their own Student Body officers, but the Overall Head is in charge of GARA's entire tertiary level," Annie explained, as she pushed open the door.

We stopped, surprised. Kagura, Abi, and Yura were standing outside the doors. All three had their arms crossed. For an instant, they looked startled as Annie swung the doors open. They quickly recovered and smirked—in synchronization.

"Well, well, well," Kagura said, her brilliant ruby eyes locked on me. "If it isn't the scholar and her…you call those friends?" She raised her eyebrows disdainfully at Sango and the others, who glared at her.

Abi and Yura giggled. "Good lord, Westerholme, you're such an eyesore—as always," Abi said, eyeing Annie's hair and her glasses.

"Yes, yes, good morning _WasAbi_," Annika said nonchalantly. She held my hand tightly in hers and scowled as she dragged, Sango, Ayame, and I past the Trio, and out onto the porch. I take it she was more concerned about leaving before the Elite came out.

Abi looked as though she wanted to retort, but Kagura cut her off. "Oh, don't worry," she said, her ruby eyes flashing. "Leave Westerholme alone. We all know how pathetic she _really_ is." Their laughter was both high and shrill as they turned towards the lobby.

To anyone else, the insult didn't seem like much, but Annie's back visibly stiffened and she lowered her head. "Anne?" Sango said hesitantly.

Annie cleared her throat as she turned to face us. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "C'mon, then," she said as she descended the steps. We followed close behind her.

Annie glanced at her watch, her expression both urgent and worried. "Hurry, before they—" Anne was cut off, when a shrill screech suddenly ripped through the air.

"SESSHOUMARU TAISHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Damn," Sango said as Ayame slapped a hand to her forehead.

Was it possible for the word 'Tsunami' to be applied to a horde of screaming girls? It seemed that way to me as a legion of squalling girls rushed past us with all the fury of the ocean.

Sango grabbed my arm, and dragged me back to the porch steps. Whoa!

I glanced across the road, towards the first quarter, just as the double oak doors closed on Sesshoumaru Taisho's back. He regarded the horde of girls with nothing more than an apathetic look as he walked down the steps. For an instant, I wondered—how could a guy be so graceful? It just wasn't fair.

The girls didn't seem to think so, because their caterwauling grew louder with each step Sesshoumaru took down the stairs. Though the girls crowded around him, they didn't dare lay a hand on him (it seemed they had no illusions about what those claws of his were capable of).

"They're louder than normal," I commented. My ears were aching.

"That's because it's rare for Sesshoumaru to actually be seen walking from the first quarter," Sango explained. "He usually drives."

Well, I would want to drive, too, if I had all those girls screaming at me every time I took a step outdoors. "He just wants the attention," Anne said sourly.

As though he heard her, Sesshoumaru looked up amidst all the girls, eyes narrowing at her. "Glare all you want," Anne said defiantly, rolling her eyes. She grabbed my hand again. "C'mon, let's go, or we'll miss the wretched shuttle." There was pure venom in her voice as she led me by the hand and dove into the thicket of screaming girls.

"Move it!" the duchess snapped, shoving two girls aside. "If you want to be late for class, fine by me, just get out of our way!"

"Hey!"

"Watch it, Four Eyes!"

I looked back at Sango and Ayame, raising an eyebrow inquiringly at them. Sango only shrugged and shook her head.

**. . .**

"Looks like you guys barely made it out of there alive," Pricilla Hawthorne commented. She and her two friends, Amy Knight and Kim Darling were sitting at the benches at the waiting shed.

I glanced towards Annie, Sango, and Ayame. After roughing it through the stormy sea of Sesshoumaru's fan club, they looked dishevelled. Annie's hair was threatening to come out of its bun, and her glasses were askew. One of Ayame's pigtails had come lose, while Sango's ponytail looked lopsided. I doubted that I looked any better.

"That's an understatement," Ayame said as she rummaged in her bag for her comb.

"Can I borrow a mirror?" I said, sighing. I gave Kim a grateful smile as she handed me a silver-backed mirror. I had a sneaking suspicion it was _real_ silver.

I was right. I looked worse for wear. "You should have gotten out before the girls attacked," Amy Knight commented. I fumbled in my bag and reached for my comb.

"We would have made it, if it weren't for the Kagura Trio," Sango said, as she brushed her hair.

Amy looked sympathetic. "I think we should wake up earlier," Annie commented as she fixed her bun.

"WHAT?!" Sango, Ayame, and I exclaimed.

"What?" Annie asked, raising an eyebrow. "We should, if we want to avoid another stampede."

I slapped a hand to my forehead as I let out a groan. "By the way," Pricilla said. "Have you guys read the announcement?"

"Yeah, about the elections, right?" Ayame said, tying her hair back in place. She smiled into her compact before snapping it close.

Was it just me, or did Amy, Pricilla and Kim suddenly look uncomfortable? "Well, did you guys hear about…?" Pricilla went on, her voice deliberately trailing off for dramatic effect.

Ayame, Sango, Annie and I leaned in closer. "About?"

"Miroku is going to run for president of the student council," Pricilla finished with a flourish.

"WHAT?!" Sango exclaimed.

"That's impossible!" Annika shouted.

"Why?" Ayame said.

"Er…why is that a bad thing?" I asked hesitantly.

They all turned to me as though I'd lost it. Eh…

"It isn't her fault, she doesn't know," Sango said.

"Well, she is new, she wouldn't know," Pricilla agreed.

"Know what?" I asked. Truth be told, there were still times when I felt out of place among them.

Sango made a noise of disgust. She was about to say something when a silver Honda stopped in front of the shed. The passenger window rolled down to reveal a very pretty girl with a pixie cut. "Yuki!" Amy said as she, Pricilla and Kim stood. "Finally!"

"Can we give you guys a lift?" Yuki offered us.

"No thanks, we won't fit," Ayame said, shaking her head. "Besides, the shuttle should be here any minute now."

We watched as they drove off. "What were you guys going to say about Miroku running for president?" I asked.

Sango's eyebrow twitched. "We can't have Miroku for president," she went on slowly. I could tell she was trying very hard to remain calm. "Because that guy is an irresponsible pervert!"

"Per…vert?" I said, blinking in surprise. My first impression of Miroku had been a heavy flirt, but a pervert? Really?

"He actually gropes the girls, you know," Annie said. "And they, being the idiots that they are, don't mind at all."

"Imagine…if he became president…" Ayame said. There was pure dread in her voice.

Sango shook her head. "He was always complaining about how the girls' skirts were a bit too long," she said ominously.

My eyebrows rose in surprise as I stared at my skirt. It reached roughly two inches above the knee. "He can't simply change the uniforms because he's president, right?" I reasoned.

Three pairs of eyes suddenly snapped to me. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Ayame asked Annie and Sango.

Huh?

"I am," Sango said.

Oh dear…I wasn't always wrong, but please tell me I'm wrong now!

"Kagome should oppose Miroku and run for president!" they said in unison.

"WHAT?!" I yelped. "You're joking! You're out of your minds! I'm a Nobody, remember? Not to mention a lot of people don't like me! And I'm new! They all know me as 'the charity case'!" The last part stung, I'll admit.

"But it's brilliant!" Annika said, waving her hand dismissively at my protests. "Bloody brilliant, now that I think about it clearly."

"Then you're not thinking at all!" I snapped. "C'mon, guys, this isn't funny!"

"But we're serious."

I shook my head. "Miroku's one of the Elite! That's a landslide win _right there!_"

"Unless…" Ayame said, tapping a finger to her chin. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and she sighed. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" she said grudgingly, turning to Annie and Sango. "If we want Kagome to run and win, then we'll need the power of the Elite to back her up."

"Miroku's an _Elite!_" I pointed out. "You still can't be serious! Joke's over."

"Of course," Sango said, not hearing me at all. "To fight an Elite, we'll _need_ an Elite."

It was as though a light bulb went _ding!_ above their heads as they looked at me with wide eyes filled with realization.

"We'll need Kouga!"

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

I slumped against my desk the moment we arrived for Calculus, my head on my folded arms. I ignored the sounds of students whispering about me as I let myself fall into a pit of despair. My misery was more important than gossip!

They were serious! They really were! The traitors! And I thought we were friends! I groaned as Sango patted my shoulder comfortingly.

I had asked them to consider someone else, anyone but me. But no—they had said that anyone else didn't have the guts to take on the Elite (and,_ apparently_, neither did they). Yeah, and _I _did? Annie had then reassured me that I wouldn't be alone. They would be supporting me every step of the way. Like the kings and queens of England, I would be the figurehead, she had said. More like the puppet to their puppet master. Traitors!

But first, I had to get Kouga to campaign for me, instead of for Miroku.

I had been surprised when Ayame readily agreed to the plan. She loved Kouga, but why was she willing to have me coax him over?

My head suddenly snapped up. _Eureka!_

What if…what if I used the campaign as an excuse to get Kouga and Ayame together? I could find reasons for them to do things together! It was a perfect opportunity! It was fool proof! I clenched my fist determinedly.

"Wow, you seem pretty enthusiastic," Ayame commented, eyes on my fist.

"Of course I am!" I said. It was so brilliant, I was at a loss for words! "Ayame what if…" Remembering the demons in the room who would still hear me even if whispered, I quietly scribbled my plan on my notebook. I showed it to her.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" she said, looking up at me. Her eyes appeared teary. "You'd do that?"

"I did promise you," I said, grinning.

"Oh Kagomeeee!" Ayame said, as she leaned across the space that separated our desks and drew me into a python hug.

"Ow, ow, human…need to breathe…remember?" I gasped.

Ayame giggled as she let me go. "Now what are you two going on about?" Annika muttered as she appeared behind Ayame. She reached over and snatched my notebook from Ayame's grasp. Her eyebrows rose, threatening to vanish into her side bangs, as she read what I'd written.

She looked at me. "Really?"

I huffed. "Why not?" I said, shrugging. "It's perfectly fool—"

The other students suddenly burst into claps and cheers as Miroku, Inuyasha, and Kouga made their timely entrance. Miroku waved like a celebrity, his teeth gleaming. Inuyasha scowled as he crossed his arms. Kouga's eyes darted around the room. He caught my eye, grinned, and made a beeline for me. Several girls turned and glared at me. I ignored them.

"He's…he's coming over," Ayame whispered.

"Keep calm," I muttered as she blushed.

"Hey there, sweet!" Kouga said, smirking as he faced an empty desk towards mine. He sat down and leaned towards me.

I leaned back. I could feel the annoyance threatening to surface. Keep calm, keep calm, Kagome. Remember you need him, for your friends' stupid idea, and for Ayame.

"He-hey, Kouga," I said, giving him a smile. I had a feeling it looked insincere. All around us, I could hear the students still clapping and cheering on Miroku.

"Now that's what I like to see," the wolf said, smirking. "You know, you're cute when you smile. You should do it more often."

Oh, I do it often, all right—when you're not around. _Keep calm…_

"So, um, what's the big deal with Miroku?" I asked, jerking my thumb towards him.

Kouga blinked. "Oh, him?" he said, scoffing. "Just passed in his application for president of the Student Council."

"What?!" Sango and Annie hissed. They were immediately beside Kouga, eyes blazing.

"He submitted _already?_" Annika said, amazed.

"Chill, Duchess," Kouga said, leaning back and crossing his arms. Annie and Sango both threw me a look, and then glanced pointedly at Kouga.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Kouga…about that—"

"QUIET!"

We all jumped in our seats just as Ms. Tsuruga entered the room. She was holding the same metallic rod from yesterday and tapping it repeatedly against her palm as she turned to regard us. Her eyes immediately fell on Kouga, who grinned at her.

"Mr. Yorozoku!" she said with a sharp tap of the rod against her palm (that had to hurt). "May I ask what subject this is?"

"Uh…I think it was Calculus," Kouga said, grinning. My eyebrow twitched. Now was not the time to be funny!

"Very good," Ms. Tsuruga said sarcastically. "Calculus. Not Courtship 101. Get back to your seat. Now!"

Kouga immediately returned to Miroku and Inuyasha. Several girls turned to glare at me, as though it was my fault that Kouga had been scolded. As Kouga sat back down, he glanced at me from over his shoulder, and winked.

Inuyasha hit him on the shoulder and pointed to the whiteboard. Ms. Tsuruga drew out a whiteboard marker and began writing on the board. She began talking, and I leaned back, ready to lend me her ears. For an instant, my eyes strayed to Kouga.

What were Annie, Sango, and Ayame thinking? Surely, there was someone else other than me who could oppose Miroku? Why me?

I let out a loud sigh of frustration. A second later, Inuyasha glanced hesitantly over his shoulder at me.

He stared.

I stared back.

He suddenly jerked his head slightly toward Kouga and rolled his eyes. I couldn't help it—I giggled.

"Ms. Higurashi!"

I cringed as Ms. Tsuruga's rod struck her desk, making a loud _thwack!_ as it made contact. I immediately stood.

"Tell me something about functions," she said, tapping the rod against her palm. She looked menacing.

"Functions…" I began, feeling conscious of everyone's eyes on me. Beside me, a boy with pointed ears nudged his seatmate and they chuckled. I blushed. "A function can be thought of as a correspondence from a set _X_ of real numbers _x_ to a set _Y_ or real numbers _y,_ where the _y_ is unique for a specific value of _x."_

Ms. Tsuruga's lips twitched slightly. "Good. Sit."

Several people turned their heads to stare at me, and I blushed. The moment Ms. Tsuruga turned her back, Kouga spun around and gave me a wink.

Keep calm, Kagome. Just…keep…_calm…_

**. . .**

The sound of the bell ringing after History was probably the best sound I've heard all day. Ms. Riddler, the teacher and fraternal twin sister of our Physics teacher, had given us a quiz on the _Sengoku Jidai_ of Japan. It was a breeze for the demons who'd actually _lived_ during that period.

"You were marvellous, Kagome!" Sango cheered as we made our way towards the cafeteria. "First, during Calculus, you didn't flinch once! Not even when Tsuruga called on you to answer on the board! And then, you scored high on the History quiz!"

"I'm not surprised," Annie said.

Ayame was quiet. There was a serious look in her eyes. Uh-oh. "Um…Ayame?" I said hesitantly. Dammit, I was going to kill Kouga!

Ayame turned to me. To my relief, she smiled. "Don't worry about Kouga, Kagome," she said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Listen, Ayame," I said, lowering my voice. "I know it must be hard for you. But it's hard for me, too—I can't stand him, I honestly can't. So, every time he comes near me, I want you to be yourself."

She blinked. "Be myself?"

I nodded. "What Kagome means to say is that you always freeze when Kouga comes around," Annika piped up. "It's no wonder he's never paid any attention to you at all."

Sango and I threw her an annoyed look. "Really blunt, that one," Sango said, sighing.

Annie raised an eyebrow. "I'm just being frank," she defended.

"Annie has a point," I said, sighing.

"See?"

"Ayame, whenever Kouga comes near me, try talking to him," I said, as I slung an arm across her shoulders. "Don't clam up. Show him what a wonderful person you are."

Her eyes immediately watered. "Oh, Kagomeee!" she said as she grabbed me in another python hug.

"Ow!" I said as we stumbled through the doors of the cafeteria.

"Oops, sorry!" Ayame said as she let go of me.

Several people turned to stare at me. A girl nudged her friend, and they turned to glare at me. I inwardly squirmed. It wasn't my fault that Kouga was such a pest!

Annie cleared her throat loudly and everyone immediately turned back to their food. "Idiots," she muttered as we sat at the same table as yesterday.

"Mm…" Sango said appreciatively as she lifted the covers off the food. "Salad Niçoise, Roast Barossa Chook…Let's eat!"

I glanced uneasily at the spoons and forks beside me. I could feel Annie's eyes boring holes into me as I debated over which fork to actually use. Why couldn't I just use my hands?

"_This_ one," Anne said, sighing as she tapped the space above a fork.

Grinning sheepishly, I picked up my fork. "Sorry," I said.

"And don't slouch," Annie said, eyes narrowing. "And your napkin on your lap! Honestly, I don't know how you've been eating properly for the past—how old are you?"

"Seventeen," I said.

"For the past seventeen years," Anne finished.

Ayame chuckled, and shook her head. "Don't worry Kagome. When Anne becomes a meanie, it just goes to show that she cares about you."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm a sadist?"

Ayame shrugged innocently. "Hello there, beautiful people!" an all-too familiar voice said. A second later, Kouga had pulled up a chair from the other table and was sitting at the head of our table, right beside me.

"Oh, just wonderful, there went my appetite," Anne said darkly.

"Yeesh, Duchess, I can tell you like me a lot," Kouga said, grinning. Annie choked on her salad. Beside her, Ayame's eyes widened as she blushed and bent her head, keeping her eyes fixed on the salad in front of her.

"Anyway," Kouga said, turning back to me. "Did ya miss me, Kagome?"

Deep breath. Keep calm, Higurashi, you can do it. "We just saw each other in Calculus," I pointed out.

"I'm just that loveable," Kouga said, shrugging.

I gripped my fork so hard, my knuckles turned white. I quickly set it down—I might stab him with it. Urgh, how could Ayame possibly stand him? While Kouga kept talking about himself, and joking with the boys over at the next table, I nudged Ayame's knee with mine. She looked up, and I tilted my head pointedly at Kouga.

She blushed and shook her head. How was I going to get her together with Kouga if she wouldn't even talk to him? This might just be harder than I had initially thought.

Annie and Sango both caught my eye, and looked at Kouga. "Elections," they mouthed at me.

Oh, right. I groaned. Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to make a spectacle of myself? Going against Miroku was going to brand me as more than a pariah, I was just sure of it. Even if Kouga _did_ agree to campaign for me against his best friend—which I didn't think he would—Kouga was just _one_ Elite. He couldn't possibly flip the tables in my favor, not with Inuyasha and that Tsunami-inducing Sesshoumaru backing Miroku up.

I must have been spacing out a little too long, because Annie gave me a kick underneath the table. "Ow!" I said. I glared at her, and she raised an eyebrow.

"You okay?" Kouga asked.

"Uh…Why aren't you eating yet?" I asked. Annie threw me a glare, while Sango let out a sigh of disbelief.

"Oh, I get it," Kouga said. "You're concerned about my health! Gee, that's really sweet, Kagome."

Ayame blinked and once again bent her head. I groaned. How was I going to get her out of her shell? Beneath the table, Annie gave me another kick.

"Say, Kouga—" I was cut off when the double doors to the cafeteria opened and in walked none other than Miroku and Inuyasha. Loud cheers and claps immediately exploded throughout the cafeteria. Girls screamed their love and approval as Miroku smiled and waved. Inuyasha crossed his arms, his ears twitching.

"Hey, Miroku! Inuyasha!" Kouga called out, waving his best friends over.

Several people threw our table looks of disbelief as Inuyasha and Miroku made our way over to us. "Hello, ladies!" Miroku said, beaming at us. He and Inuyasha stood behind Kouga's chair. "Sango, you look divine, as always."

Sango gave him a withering look, and ignored his comment. "Getting even more popular, eh, Miroku?" Kouga asked him.

Miroku shrugged. "What can I do? This school needs a president who isn't afraid to break free from mundane tradition!" he said loudly, making a determined fist. He spun around to face the other students. Several people cheered their approval. "This school needs a president who isn't afraid to try anything new! A president who can take Golden Acres to better heights!"

People screamed their approval, their lunches forgotten. I looked over at Annie and Sango, hoping that the support people were already bestowing Miroku would make them rethink their idea. From the looks on their faces, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Oh?" Sango hissed as she leaned towards Miroku. "Mundane tradition?"

Miroku turned back to her. "Yes, my dear Sango, mundane tradition," he said solemnly.

"And what part of GARA's 'mundane tradition' are you planning on changing?" Sango's eyes narrowed dangerously. "The girls' uniforms?"

"Well, Sango, that will have to come second," Miroku said, winking at her. Her face reddened in anger. "First order of business would be to allow outsiders into GARA any time of the year."

"Why, so you can find more girls to flirt with?" Sango snapped. "Not happy with what's available, are you?"

Miroku looked as though he was at a loss for words. I stared at Sango. I was surprised at the amount of venom in her voice, and the deadly look in her eyes. She was angry—_very_ angry. And I couldn't think of a sufficient enough reason for her to be _this_ angry with Miroku. I had thought that Annie, Ayame, and Sango were just Everybodies, and yet why were they so connected to the Elite?

"My dear Sango, you misunderstand me," Miroku said, a look of mock-hurt on his face.

"You won't win," Sango said quietly.

Miroku threw out his arms. "As far as I know, no one else is running," Miroku said, grinning. "Isn't that right, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Always the overconfident one," he said, shaking his head. "Try not to be an idiot this time, Miroku."

"Oh?" Annie said, raising an eyebrow at Miroku. "I do believe you're wrong on that point."

Oh no. Annie…no! You wouldn't…!

"Wrong?" Miroku asked, tilting his head. He looked genuinely puzzled.

"There is someone else brave enough to challenge you," Ayame suddenly said. Kouga's eyes swivelled to her. I take it he just realized that she was there.

Inuyasha, Miroku and Kouga glanced at each other, looks of bemusement on their faces. "Who?" Miroku asked.

Annie grinned as she nodded in my direction. NO! "Kagome Higurashi will run in this year's Student Council elections," she announced. "And she _will _win!"

No! My short life at GARA was over!

The room suddenly went dead quiet. Miroku, Inuyasha, and Kouga were staring at me with open-mouthed astonishment. The silence stretched on for several heartbeats, and then…

"The Charity Case has totally lost it!" a boy shouted.

Laughter suddenly erupted throughout the room. I felt my face warming. My heart was beating so fast, and the blood was pounding in my ears. I wanted to run and bury myself in the ground!

"Dude, I thought scholars were supposed to be _smart!_"

"Haha! Like anyone would vote for _her!"_

Miroku, Inuyasha, and Kouga were still staring at me. They weren't laughing. It looked as though their brains had clogged up.

"How dare you people laugh?!" Ayame shouted as she stood. She slammed both hands on the table, on either side of her plate, as she glared around the cafeteria. "Kagome is a smart girl! She'd make a better president than some popular kid with no brains!"

Silence fell around the cafeteria. And then people began laughing again. Ayame bit her lower lip as a blush crept along her cheeks.

"Everyone shut up!" Kouga suddenly shouted as he stood from his seat.

The silence that followed was total.

Kouga glared around the room. "Ayame's right"—Ayame turned her wide eyes to him—"Higurashi's a smart, nice girl! She'd make a good president."

"Dude, Kouga's siding with the Charity Case!"

"Oh no, Kouga!"

Miroku and Inuyasha both turned to Kouga. Miroku looked dumbfounded, while Inuyasha only shook his head. "Kouga, what do you mean?" Miroku asked slowly.

"Sorry, Miroku, but I'm siding with Higurashi," he said, shrugging.

Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment. Annika looked as though Christmas had come early, while Sango had a smirk of satisfaction on her face.

Miroku blinked, and then he let out a loud peal of laughter. "Kouga, my friend," he said, throwing an arm on Kouga's shoulder. "Not once were you able to win a game against me."

"Is that all this is to you, a game?" I surprised myself when I spoke up. I'd had just about enough of Miroku. In fact, I'd had enough of everyone laughing at me! I stood up. "Student Council elections aren't just a game! They're a big responsibility, and you're not taking it seriously at all!"

I couldn't help but notice Inuyasha grinning, as though he was enjoying himself. Somehow, I felt even more confident as I pointed at Miroku. "Miroku Houshi, I _will_ run for president, and I _will _win!"

Annie smirked as she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "Let the games begin."

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**End of chapter.**

**I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed, etcetera. Also, I'd like to let everyone know that I'll be updating my profile regularly. I'll be putting what stories I'm currently in the process of updating. I've been getting PMs from some people, asking when I'm going to update which story. **

**Review? For me? Imaginary Sesshoumaru-plushies to the ones that do! ; )**


	5. The Preparations

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**Chapter Five**

**-The Preparations-**

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"That was really wonderful, Kagome!" Sango said enthusiastically as we made our way towards Chemistry. "The way you shot Miroku down really surprised everyone!"

"Miroku's face was priceless," Annie said, satisfied.

"Ehe," I said. Truth be told, I was having mixed feelings at the moment. Sure, I had stood up to Miroku—sort of—and he had been driven speechless, as was everyone else in the cafeteria. It had actually fallen silent, before Inuyasha cleared his throat loudly, and the normal chatter had resumed. People had thrown me looks as we'd left, but, surprisingly, they weren't looks of derision. Several girls had whispered scornfully, and I hastily shoved the thought aside.

"I'm just worried that Miroku and Kouga might end up fighting because of this," I went on. True—what if they did fight, all because of this election? At the moment, Kouga was currently with Miroku and Inuyasha, but there had been a noticeable tension in the air as they had eaten their lunch.

Ayame shook her head. "The Elite are as thick as thieves, you know," she pointed out. "They've been together ever since Inuyasha and Kouga first babysat Miroku."

My eyebrows rose. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that demons had such long lifespans. "I suppose that's why Miroku acts like the baby of the group," Annie mused.

"He's certainly the most immature," Sango said, scoffing. She turned to me, and smiled. "I'm really glad you decided to run against him, Kagome."

"We need a motto!" Ayame suddenly said. "You know, a kind of slogan about Kagome's campaign."

"Yeah, we have a lot of planning to do," Sango agreed. "We'll start tonight, after class."

Annie nodded in agreement. "We have to make your résumé, by the way," she said. "And submit it to the Student Affairs Office before the fourteenth." It was currently the twelfth.

"I thought the fourteenth was the deadline?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annika shrugged. "You've got to pass it earlier, if you want to make an impression," she pointed out.

Oh, boy…

As we entered Chemistry, I couldn't help but notice several of the students throw me looks of curiosity, before they began muttering to one another. My earlier confrontation with Miroku must have taken them completely by surprise (I take it, not a lot of people probably challenged the Elite).

The Elite had yet to arrive. The one exception happened to be Sesshoumaru Taisho, who was already seated at his desk, absorbed in a book. Several girls were giggling and staring at him. I was surprised they hadn't attacked him yet. He looked up as we approached.

I dumped my backpack on the desk I shared with Inuyasha. To my surprise, Annie sat down beside me, arms folded on the desk.

"Er…what are you doing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Sesshoumaru was her lab partner, after all.

"Inuyasha isn't here yet," she pointed out, her mouth set in a thin line. "I thought we could talk about your upcoming campaign."

"I have a lot of ideas!" Ayame was suddenly in front of us, leaning her arms on the table as she grinned down at me. "For instance, Kagome's campaign color could be magenta!"

I stared at her. Beside me, Annie looked as though someone was cutting up meat with a butter knife. "Er…magenta?" I asked hesitantly.

Ayame nodded enthusiastically. "It's a really eye-catching color!" she said.

"It's too garish!" Annie said bluntly.

"I think it's nice!" Ayame said.

"It's a _horrible_ color!" Annie countered. "It's like red that wants to be bloody pink!"

"Break it up, you two," Sango said, as she came over. "We'll decide everything later, tonight."

Ayame huffed and crossed her arms. She looked as though she wanted to argue, but, at that moment, several girls suddenly wended their way towards us—or rather, towards Sesshoumaru's table behind us. They were pushing a very pretty girl towards him. She had a main of thick, brown hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon. Her dark blue eyes were both anxious and excited.

"Go on, Sara!" one of the girls pushing her said.

"Oh, boy," Sango muttered. "Watch, and observe, Kagome."

We watched as the girl named Sara stopped beside Sesshoumaru's desk. Sesshoumaru must know that she was standing right beside him, but he didn't even bother looking up. Yeesh.

"Um," Sara said timidly. She was holding something behind her. Oh, no…she wasn't going to…was she? I think she was. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" She even used the honorific!

Sesshoumaru closed his book with a snap, and looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. Sara trembled, as she bowed her head. "I…I…" she began. She suddenly showed him what she had been hiding behind her back—a small basket of…cookies? The kind that you wrapped in cellophane.

"I was wondering if you would accept these, my lord!" Sara said hastily, looking up at him. The room suddenly went dead silent, and everyone stared at Sara. Several girls were glaring daggers at her. The tension in the air was almost palpable. I realized I was holding my breath, and I quickly exhaled.

"As a token of my feelings for you!" Sara went on, her hopeful eyes meeting Sesshoumaru's impassive ones. "I made them myself. They're chocolate chip."

Annie sighed quietly beside me. "He hates chocolate," she muttered under her breath. I stared at her, surprised, and she shrugged nonchalantly as she opened her chemistry book.

Sesshoumaru stared at Sara for a moment. "No, thanks," he said abruptly, returning to his book.

Sara blinked, taken aback. "But, my lord—"

"I said, no thanks."

Sara looked crestfallen as the bevy of girls surrounding her gently led her off, murmuring words of comfort. The tension slowly started to dissipate as people resumed their normal chatter. Several girls sighed in relief. I think they were relieved that Sesshoumaru turned Sara down. Speaking of which…

I opened my notebook, and turned to Annie. I hastily scribbled, _How did you know he hates chocolate? _Sango and Ayame both leaned in to read what I'd written.

Annie raised both her eyebrows as she read. Clicking her tongue in disapproval, she wrote: _It should be obvious—he's a bloody dog, after all._

We stared at her. "Typical Annie," Sango muttered, shaking her head.

Frowning, I wrote again: _Poor Sara. You'd have thought he could have turned her down gently._

Sango took the pen from my hand. _You won't believe the number of girls who confess to him. He always rejects them—and yes, Kagome, he isn't very gentle about it._

"Of course he isn't gentle about it, he's a mutt," Annie said flatly.

We froze, staring at her. Very stiffly, Sango, Ayame, and I glanced behind us. Sesshoumaru Taisho had looked up from his book, golden eyes locked on the back of Annie's head. Whether he was thinking of mauling her or not, we couldn't tell.

We hastily looked away as his gaze shifted to us—scary!

_That mouth of yours will get you into trouble one of these days! _Ayame wrote, shoving the notebook underneath the duchess's nose. She scoffed and pushed it away.

At that moment, several girls let out squeals of delight as the doors to the room swung open, and in walked the rest of the Elite.

"Miroku for president!" a girl screeched. Miroku winked at her, and several girls giggled.

"We have to beat him," Sango said venomously. She turned to me. "Show them that it takes more than a fan club to be a good leader, Kagome." I gave her a weak smile.

"Hey!" Kouga said, as he made his way towards us. Several girls glared daggers at me, and I halfheartedly returned Kouga's smile. Truth be told, since he had stood up for me and Ayame in the cafeteria, I couldn't bring myself to be annoyed with him _that_ much.

"H-hey, Kouga," Ayame stuttered, cheeks immediately brightening. I smiled encouragingly at her.

"Hey, Ayame," Kouga said, almost carelessly, as he stopped beside our desk. He grinned at me. "So, what's the game plan?"

"About the elections?" Sango asked. "We're discussing that later, actually."

"Er," I began. "Kouga…maybe you and Ayame could think of a 'political color'? You guys are seatmates, anyway." Commence phase one of my 'Bring-Ayame-and-Kouga-Together' plan.

Ayame blinked, cheeks as red as her hair, as she turned hesitantly to the wolf demon. "Sounds like a plan," Kouga said, nodding, still smiling at me. "You always have the best ideas, Kagome." He gave me a roguish grin, and I quickly squashed the urge to roll my eyes. "C'mon, Ayame, let's get thinking."

Ayame gave us nervous looks as she followed Kouga back to their desk. Sango and I gave her a thumbs-up.

"I hope they don't settle on magenta," Annie said flatly.

Sango and I rolled our eyes, as Inuyasha made his way towards us. "See you later, guys," Sango said, as she reluctantly bustled off to join Miroku at their table.

"Hey," Inuyasha said, as he stopped beside our table. He raised a thick eyebrow at Annie. "That's my seat."

She turned to him. "Really?" she said sarcastically. "I had no idea!"

I raised my eyebrows as Annie gathered her books, stood, and unceremoniously dropped them on the desk she shared with Sesshoumaru. He closed his book, and regarded with her with cold, wary eyes as she sat beside him, a heavy frown on her face. It took me a moment to remember that she hated the Elite. I sincerely hoped she'd still be alive by the end of the class.

"So, running for president, eh?" I nearly jumped when Inuyasha spoke. He slid into his seat beside me.

"It was their idea, really," I said, shrugging. "I just got caught in the crossfire."

His ears twitched. "From the way you were yapping in the cafeteria, I'd have to say you got caught pretty good." Boy, did he sound rough.

I shrugged. "Miroku got on my nerves," I admitted.

"Keh!" he said, turning his eyes towards Miroku, who was busy flirting with several girls at once. Beside him, Sango threw him looks of deepest loathing. "Y'know, between you and me, that guy is too much of a flirt to run for president."

I stared at him, somewhat surprised. "But you're supporting him, aren't you?"

Inuyasha shrugged, and tapped a pen against his desk. "I'm his friend, Kagome," he said. "Been with him since he was in diapers. Besides, you've roped Kouga—Miroku needs someone to keep him out of trouble."

At the mention of Kouga, I immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry," I said. "I mean, you guys are supposed to be friends, and I'm sort of…_getting in between_." I cringed as I remembered what the girls in the cafeteria had said as we'd left.

"Don't be," Inuyasha said gruffly. He folded his arms on the desk, and turned to me. "Kouga's really smitten with you, you know."

I flinched. I had to get Kouga together with Ayame soon!

"At least you guys still have—" I made a tiny gesture with my thumb towards the table behind us. Well, at least they still had the ability to induce a fangirl tsunami.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows. "Sesshoumaru?" he said, not bothering to keep his voice down. "That jerk isn't interested in school affairs."

I felt a pair of cold eyes boring holes into our backs—I was pretty sure Inuyasha could feel it, too. For all his looks, Sesshoumaru really _was_ scary.

Thankfully, Ms. Blanche came in before Inuyasha and I could have our heads ripped off. "Settle down!" she barked as she strode into the room, heels making a rhythmic clacking on the tiles. "I've told you all—treat this lab with respect! And that means no horseplay! Houshi! Get back to your desk!" she added, glaring daggers at Miroku.

Miroku, who had been sitting at a table with a group of girls, hastily scrambled back to his seat, but not before he gave the girls a Casanova grin. Yeesh…Sango was right! That guy wouldn't make a good president at all.

"We begin with our first topic for the semester," Blanche said, turning to the board to write. "Biochemistry!"

"So," Blanche went on. "Who can tell me exactly what the study of biochemistry entails, hm?"

My hand shot up, and Blanche nodded. I stood, suddenly aware of everyone's eyes on me. I took a breath. "It's the study of the chemical components of living organisms, as well as their reactions and processes," I said promptly.

Blanche smiled, and I quickly sat back down, aware that several people were still staring. "Good," she said, turning back to the board.

"Take ten points, Gryffindor," Annie muttered from behind. I glanced at her, and she shrugged innocently at me. Beside her, Sesshoumaru was staring at the board. His cold eyes suddenly slid to me, and I hastily looked back to the front.

Scary, indeed.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"And so, Hermione Granger strikes again," Annie said, as we left the classroom an hour later.

"Ha, ha, very funny," I said dryly.

"You know, you're really smart, Kagome," Sango said as we walked down the hallway. "The way you answered all of Blanche's questions. I think several people were pretty impressed."

Ayame nodded in agreement, and I felt my cheeks reddening. "Anyway," I said, clearing my throat. I turned to Ayame. "How'd your brainstorming with Kouga go?"

She gave me a small smile. "We thought, and we debated," she admitted. "Blanche told us off twice, remember?"

I beamed at her, glad to hear that she was at least talking to Kouga. "And what did you come up with?"

"Please don't say bloody magenta," Annie interjected.

"Don't worry," Ayame said, rolling her eyes at her. "Kouga and I decided to go with purple!"

Annie looked as though she wanted to argue, but I cut her off. "I think purple is fantastic!" I said, and Ayame grinned.

"Thanks, Kagome," she said. "For getting Kouga to work with me, that is."

"I did promise you," I pointed out.

Sango nodded as we entered Literature. "Now that we've got our political color, we can decide on a slogan later," she said, as we took our seats. Several people stared at me, but, thankfully, they didn't mutter.

I sighed as I leaned back in my seat. All this talk about planning was actually making this presidency thing more real. Truth was, I really did want to beat Miroku at this, but…I knew not everyone in GARA liked me, and some—okay, maybe the majority—thought of me as a charity case. Was I really going to win this thing?

"Hey, Charity Case!"

I looked up, surprised to find Charlene Williams, Fancy Thorn, and Angelique Dugrand glaring down at me. Their arms were crossed, and their eyes were narrowed. The chatter in the room immediately died down as people turned to stare at us. I felt myself grow cold when I remembered that they got sent out yesterday, along with Annie.

"What do you guys want?" Sango asked, as she, Ayame, and Annie appeared beside me.

"Is it true?" Fancy said, her baby blue eyes flashing.

"Are you actually going to run against Miroku Houshi for president?" Angelique asked with mirth.

"Don't tell me you're stupid enough to do that!" Charlene said, smirking. "Do you actually think anyone would vote for you?" Several people snickered.

I blushed in embarrassment. "Back off, you dimwits!" Annie snapped, glaring. Remembering that she got sent out of class yesterday because me, I shook my head at her.

"Or, what, Westerholme?" Fancy said haughtily. "Are you going to throw your glasses at me?"

"Enough!" Sango said. "Leave Kagome alone, she hasn't done anything to you."

"It has more to do with the fact that they let trash like her into GARA!" Angelique huffed.

"Hey, Dugrand, enough," a boy said.

I clenched my fists as I stood. "I am not trash!" I snapped.

The trio stared at me. I take it, they were somewhat surprised that I was talking. The whole room had gone quiet as all eyes turned towards us.

"And yes!" I said, suddenly feeling very bold. "I am going to run for president. And, yes! I will beat Miroku Houshi, so sit back and watch me!"

For a moment, Alicia, Fancy, and Charlene looked stunned. And then—simultaneously—they broke out in identical smirks. "Really, Higurashi?" Fancy said snidely. "You're going to win against Miroku Houshi? Y'know, you should be a comedian—you're a pretty good joker."

I blushed, mortified, as several people began to laugh. "Just you wait, Francine!" Ayame snapped, clenching her fists. "When Kagome wins, you're going to kiss her shoes!"

Fancy raised an eyebrow as her eyes fell on my feet. She laughed. "Oh, you mean those tattered things? Those are shoes?" she said, laughing.

"What is going on here—again?"

Everyone turned to the open door. Professor Saunders stood in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. He was frowning at us. He strode into the room, and shook his head in exasperation. "Why is it," he began, pointing a finger at us, "that you guys over there keep fighting during my class?"

"We weren't fighting, Professor," Sango spoke up. "We were just discussing things."

Professor Saunders sighed. "Well, discuss it later, or might send you guys off to detention," he warned.

As Fancy and her friends returned to their seats, she shot me a look of immense contempt, her plump lips curling up in a sneer. I bit my lip as I sat back down.

"Are you all right, Kagome?" Ayame whispered gently.

I nodded, not meeting her eyes. I pretended to listen to Professor Saunders as he began to discuss the Trojan War. The truth was…I was getting really tired of people laughing, and calling me names. It just didn't seem fair to judge others based on what they didn't have.

I clenched my fists on my desk. I was going to win that election!

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"How about…Vote for Higurashi—she cares?" Ayame suggested.

Ayame, Sango, Annie, and I were in the changing rooms for PE. Like yesterday, we were the first ones to arrive. Sango had figured I would prefer changing without the other girls breathing down my neck. I felt touched at her consideration, especially with what happened in Literature earlier.

As we changed, Annie had broached the topic of a slogan for my campaign. She turned to Ayame who grinned at us, waiting expectantly for our reactions. "That has got to be worse than magenta!" Annie said, appalled.

Ayame glared. "I don't hear you giving out any suggestions!" she huffed.

Annie looked thoughtful as she sat on the bench to tie her shoelaces. "Higurashi, she won't let you down," she suggested, smirking at Ayame.

"That's for deodorant!" Ayame huffed.

"Well, it's loads better than yours!" Annie snapped, standing up.

"Er...we'll think of something," I said, conciliatorily as Ayame glared.

We left just as the other girls started to come in. As we walked out the door, I couldn't help but notice that some of the girls threw me mixed looks of curiosity and contempt. Some of them whispered, and I felt my cheeks flushing.

"Just ignore them," Sango said. "They're probably just surprised with the way you handled Miroku during lunch—no one's ever stood up to one of the Elite the way you did."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I mumbled.

"Hey, Kagome!"

I looked up. Kouga, Inuyasha, and Miroku had just left the boys' changing rooms. Kouga grinned as he came over. Beside me, Ayame fidgeted nervously, but there was a determined look in her eyes.

"Hey, Kouga," Ayame greeted, somewhat shyly, as Kouga approached.

"Hey," Kouga said, in that same careless tone he sometimes used. He didn't even bother looking at Ayame.

I inwardly growled, annoyed, but forced myself to smile. "So, how's the campaign going?" Kouga asked.

"Er…Ayame and I were thinking of campaign slogans," I said. I tugged on Ayame's arm, and grinned pointedly at him.

"Really?" the wolf demon asked. "So, you guys came up with something?"

"Well, I was thinking—" Ayame began.

"'Cause maybe we could go with, 'With great power comes great responsibility'," Kouga interrupted, grinning at me.

"Planning on ignoring the copyright issues, aren't you?" Annie said snidely, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, it's a good one!" Kouga snapped.

"Besides," Ayame piped up, not easily discouraged (good job, Ayame!). "I think it's better than your deodorant slogan, Annie."

Annie blushed as Kouga roared with laughter. She glared at Ayame, and Sango let out a long sigh beside me. "Shall I restrain her?" Sango asked me. Annie looked as though she wanted to strangle both Kouga and Ayame.

I laughed as Annie rounded on us. At that moment, Inuyasha and Miroku came over. Miroku looked smug about something, but Inuyasha looked somewhat thoughtful, his eyes fixed on Annie.

"What do we have here?" Miroku said jovially, slinging an arm casually around Kouga's shoulders. "Campaign preparations in full swing, I see!"

Sango growled. "It's none of your business, Miroku," she snapped. Sango was usually a calm and reasonable person—it boggled me as to why Miroku got under her skin so easily.

"My dear Sango!" Miroku said, as though seeing her for the first time. He seized both her hands in his, and she glared. "I'm merely concerned about your friend! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, after all." He winked at her.

It looked as though Sango wanted to hit him. "Get your hands off me!" she snapped.

"Quite the lively bunch, don't you agree?" Inuyasha suddenly asked me.

With Ayame, Kouga, and Annie fighting on one side, and Miroku and Sango arguing on the other, Inuyasha was pretty much spot on. I laughed. "Not what I was really expecting when I won that scholarship," I said, shrugging.

"I bet you were thinking we were a couple of rich snobs," Inuyasha said. I blushed, and he scoffed (I didn't bother pointing out that he was right). "Well, there are a few of those," he went on. "But everyone here's okay—even Miroku, when he isn't being a pain in the ass."

I giggled. He stared at me for a moment, before clearing his throat. "Anyway," he said, turning to Annie. "Anne, we need to talk, before Sharpe arrives."

Annie pulled away from her argument with Kouga and Ayame, and turned to Inuyasha with a sigh. We watched as she and Inuyasha walked off towards the far side of the gym. "Did he get back to you?" we heard Annie say as they left.

We exchanged glances. I was pretty certain I wasn't the only one wondering what they could possibly be talking about. They'd talked yesterday, and now they were talking today…And they did know each other. Judging by the sounds of it, I think they knew each other before they enrolled at GARA.

A loud _slap! _suddenly pulled me from my thoughts. I turned, surprised, to find Sango glaring daggers at Miroku, her hand raised menacingly. There was a fresh red handprint on Miroku's cheek.

"I told you to keep your hands off me!" Sango snapped.

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

"Well, that was exhausting," Annie complained as we walked back to our quarters. Ayame still had Trig, and she had urged us to go on ahead.

I nodded in agreement as we walked up the porch steps. "My muscles have all seized up." Ms. Sharpe had been relentless—she had asked us to warm up before ordering us to go wall climbing. She had given the humans five minutes to scale the wall, while she gave the demons two. To no one's surprise, only Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kouga came out on top. Sharpe hadn't been pleased.

"Well, if you two had warmed up properly…" Sango trailed off, a grin on her face. Admittedly, PE was never my strong point.

"Whatever," Annie said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, we've got to make Kagome's résumé quick. With any luck, we can hand it in to the Students' Affairs Office, before they close at five."

We entered through the doors to find a small crowd of girls clustered at the center of the lobby. They were making loud noises of admiration—some of them giggled, some of them cooed.

"Now, what?" Sango said.

We made our way through the crowd to find Yuki standing at the center. She was smiling as the girls surrounding her let out a flurry of compliments. And no wonder. There, perched on Yuki's shoulder, was an angel. An actual _chibi_ angel, half a foot tall, with silvery white wings, and flowing white robes. The little angel's hair fell in a violet cascade down her back, and her violet eyes were wide with surprise as she stared at the crowd of girls that surrounded her.

"Isn't she adorable?" a girl cooed.

"I wish I had one!"

"You're so lucky, Yuki!"

"Wait a minute," I said, turning to Sango, who was looking at the tiny angel with adoring eyes. "Does this mean—"

"Yup," Annie said (I wasn't surprised that she seemed immune to the little angel's charm—that was saying something). "Yuki is half-god."

I looked at Yuki, surprised. Though not exactly rare, most half-gods could usually be found in the celebrity business—they're quite popular and coveted, what with having gods for parents and all. The only downside to being a half-god was that their parent god usually left them with their mortal parent to return to the heavens. The god in question actually had no choice in the matter. Once they returned, they usually left a part of themselves with their offspring, in the form of an angel. A half-god's angel was said to be a manifestation of the god's love, and a representation of the half-god's emotions and soul.

"I couldn't leave Ai home this year," Yuki was saying, as her angel flew above her. "She became really miserable last year, and wanted to come this year."

"Isn't that sweet?" one girl said, giggling, as the little angel swooped in front of her and kissed her on the forehead.

"I want to hold her!"

"Er…I'm curious," I said to Yuki. She turned to me and smiled, as the other girls began fussing over Ai, who reveled in the attention. "If you don't mind my asking, who is your parent?"

"I don't mind at all," she said, tucking a short strand of hair behind her ear. "Ama-no-Uzume—she left when I was about eight."

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling awkward. "I'm…er…sorry."

Yuki shook her head. "Don't be," she said. "I can understand—she had to. Susanoo was pestering her about returning. She had duties to return to, but that didn't mean she didn't care about me." She gestured to her angel, who was currently hovering out of the giggling girls' reach. "As you can see."

Ai suddenly turned to Yuki, and flew into her arms. Yuki giggled as she held her angel close. "Let's go," Annie said, tugging on my arm.

"See you later, Yuki!" Sango called as we headed towards the elevators.

"That was the first time I've actually seen an angel up close," I admitted as the elevator doors closed behind us.

Sango smiled. "There are several half-gods in GARA," she said. "Yuki's the only one in this building. Ares has a son in college—he's quite cocky."

I stared. The thing of it was, all gods were quite real (their existence had actually caused a worldwide pandemonium centuries ago), but they answered to only one god. I was still surprised that there were half-gods in school. Like I said, they usually went where the limelight shone brightest.

"I think it's really sad, that their parents have to leave them," I said.

"Most half-gods I know aren't bothered by it," Sango said. "They're just like Yuki—they understand. Besides…their angels are a mirror of their parents' feelings, as well as their own." Seeing the way Yuki had held Ai close, it wasn't hard to see that their parents did love them.

Annie scoffed. "Yes, yes, wonderful," she said as the elevator doors opened and we stepped out onto our floor. "Now, can we focus on Kagome's résumé?"

**. . . **

"Now is not the time to be shy about your achievements!" Annie huffed.

We were sitting cross-legged on the floor, around the living room table. We were staring at the screen of Annie's laptop, at the partially completed résumé we'd managed to create in the span of an hour.

Sango was staring thoughtfully at the screen, her eyes intent. "Annie's right, you know," she said. "I'm sure Miroku doesn't have much in the achievement category. The best he probably put was 'Winner of the Playboy Casanova of the Year Award'." She rolled her eyes.

"But," I began. Truth was, I was shy when it came to my achievements. "I don't want to boast."

They stared at me as though I'd gone crazy. "This is politics," Annie said. "You're practically selling yourself. Why not go full out?"

Sango nodded in agreement. "If other people see all your achievements, they might change their minds about you," she said. "You're a logical choice for president, after all."

I hesitated. My mother had always told me to be humble—it was a habit I had since I was a child. I bit my lower lip as Annie pushed the laptop towards me. "Go on," she said.

I sighed as I eased the laptop in front of me. Beside me, I could feel Annie and Sango's eyes widening as I typed.

"Whoa," Sango said, blinking at the screen. "You won the Junior Einstein of the Year award?"

I blushed. "As well as the Aspiring Young Chemist Award?" Annie said, her eyes wide as she stared.

"Ha!" Sango said triumphantly, her finger hovering close the screen. "An award for excellent leadership! That will definitely be nice to use against Miroku."

"Okay, you've reached the second page now," Annie said as I typed on.

"This should be enough, I think," I said as I saved the file.

"Wait," Sango said, raising her eyebrows. Admittedly, I felt a bit flattered at the flabbergasted expression she wore. "You mean...you had more?"

I smiled sheepishly at them. "Right," Annie said. "Now that we've got that out of the way, we need to print this!" She excused herself and took the laptop with her upstairs, where her printer was.

"You know, I really think you'll do well, Kagome," Sango said as we both settled on the sofa. She smiled. "And I'm not just saying it, because we practically forced you to run."

I grinned at her—she had read my mind. "Thanks," I said. "But…well…to be honest, I'm really nervous about the whole thing. I mean—not many people like me. I don't think they'd vote for me."

Sango sighed, her expression thoughtful. "Admittedly, Miroku is tough to beat, just because he's one of the Elite," she said. "But that's the only thing to commend him! You, on the other hand, have got the brains and the attitude. We'll just have to play the campaign right, and people will see you're a better choice. Besides, it helps that we've got Kouga on our side."

I smiled weakly at her. "Thanks," I said. You gotta hand it to her—Sango knew just what to say.

At that moment, a loud _riiiing!_ suddenly screeched through the air. Sango and I turned, surprised, to the iPhone that Annie had left on the table.

I picked it up. It was an unregistered number. "Annie, phone!" I called.

"Answer it, please!" she called out. She sounded extremely annoyed. "Bloody printer ate the bloody paper, and now it's bloody jammed up!"

Stifling a giggle, I answered the phone. "Hello?" I said.

There was a pause. "Ka…gome?" an all too familiar gruff, yet cultured voice said.

I blinked, surprised. "Inu…yasha?" I said. Sango raised her eyebrows, just as taken aback as I was.

"Yeah, hi," Inuyasha said. He sounded a bit awkward…or maybe I was just imagining things. "Listen," he went on. "Er…is Annie there?"

"Annie?" I repeated, and Sango looked even more puzzled.

"Yup," he said. "Good old, Four Eyes Annie."

"Just a moment," I said. Lowering the phone, I looked up towards Annie's room. It sounded as though she was waging a war against the printer, a war that was rife with the sounds of furious British curses (which was surprising—I never took her to be the type to curse). Judging from the sounds, I think the printer was winning.

"Annie!" I called. "It's Inuyasha!"

The British curses abruptly stopped and, a second later, I felt Annie's iPhone wiggling out of my grasp. Startled, I watched as it darted out of my hand and shot towards Annie's room.

"Thank you!" Annie called out as I heard her door close.

"She's telekinetic," Sango said nonchalantly as she reached for the remote on the table. "A common skill, but very useful."

"It's not that," I said, referring to Inuyasha.

"I'm curious, too, Kagome," Sango said, flipping through the channels. "The thing of it is, no matter how many times you ask, if she doesn't want to, Anne won't tell you."

I sighed as I leaned back against the couch. I knew it was none of my business, but I couldn't help but feel a bit…nosy about what they were up to.

"Er…" I said hesitantly as a thought suddenly struck me. "I was wondering…Annie and Inuyasha aren't together, are they?" Wait, why was I even asking _that_?

Sango stared at me, and then she laughed. "That's a good one, Kagome," she said, giggling. "But, no, I don't think they are. I think Annie's committed to being a spinster." She smiled before she turned back to the flat screen.

I glanced back up towards Annie's room. I shook my head, and forced my attention back to the screen, reminding myself that Pandora got into a hell lot of trouble all because she was too inquisitive.

**. . .**

Annie's attempts to subdue the printer had been in vain. Scowling heavily, she conceded defeat, and said that we would have to hand in my résumé tomorrow, after we printed it at the library. She didn't mention anything about Inuyasha, and Snago and I had agreed that we wouldn't pester her (being on the receiving end of her infamous temper didn't sound at all appealing).

As Annie, Sango, and I settled on the sofa to watch Tim Burton's _Alice in Wonderland, _Ayame suddenly strode through the door. Her face was glowing, and she practically glided into the room, obviously high up on cloud nine.

"Someone seems happy," Sango remarked as Ayame closed the door behind her. She was carrying a thick Trigonometry textbook in her arms.

"Kouga walked me back here!" she said, beaming. It was obvious that she had been bursting to say it.

"WHAT?!" we exclaimed. We leaned over the back of the couch. Ayame looked pretty smug, and there was a sparkle in her eyes.

She grinned as she settled herself on the couch, Trig book on her lap. Sango quickly put the volume on mute. "Tell us what happened!" I said excitedly. I couldn't help but cheer—progress!

"Well, he actually did it, because he was hoping to see you, Kagome," she said, and I inwardly flinched. She didn't sound the least bit bitter about it, though.

"Anyway, I just came out of Trig," she went on. "Kouga, Inuyasha and Miroku were just leaving the building. Kouga came over and asked why I was alone, and I told him about my Trig"—her eyes suddenly widened in realization—"Oh, god, I shouldn't have told him about my Trig! Now, he must think I'm stupid, taking it up again because I flunked it!"

"I don't think he really cares about that," Sango said soothingly.

"But what if he thinks dumb girls are such a turn-off?" Ayame wailed, wringing her hands.

"I'm sure he doesn't!" Annie said. Uh...somehow, it sounded a bit wrong to my ears. "Tell us what happened next!"

It took Ayame ten minutes to calm down. "Anyway," she continued, somewhat reluctantly. "So, Kouga asked why I was alone, and I told him about the Trig. He offered to walk me back, because he wanted to ask Kagome something, and because he said he wanted to talk about slogans for the campaign."

"We talked about a lot of possible slogans. He told me Miroku's," she said, suddenly giggling. "His slogan is, 'The best you'll ever have.'"

Sango's eyebrow twitched. "The double meaning is so Miroku," she said, annoyed.

"And what did you guys come up with?" I asked Ayame.

She smiled, and her eyes twinkled. "Your concern is her priority," she said in a formal voice, a finger raised. Her smile widened as she waited for our reactions.

Annie opened her mouth to protest, but I immediately cut her off. "I think it's great!" I said earnestly.

"Really?" Ayame said, practically beaming with pleasure.

Sango nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it shows that you're willing to put them above yourself," she told me. "And it's way better than Miroku's."

"So, we've got a campaign color, we've got a résumé, and we've got ourselves a slogan," Annie said. She turned to me and grinned. "Question is, have we got a president?"

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "You _know_ I'm in," I pointed out.

Ayame clapped her hands together, her expression excited. "Well, then, full steam ahead!"

**/.\./.\./.\./.\**

**End of chapter.**

**Sorry it took a while, guys. I've been focusing on my **_**The Reincarnation of Miko Midoriko **_**fic, so I can get it done, and shift my full attention to my other stories. I had a bit of a Writer's block when I wrote the beginning of this fic—still, I hope it turned out swell! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story, put it on their favorites, alerts, et cetera. Much appreciated! :D**

**Review please!**


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